LACK of enough big conference facilities in York has meant the loss of at least £2.2 million to the city in only six months, it was disclosed today.

Since April, York Tourism Bureau has had to turn down requests for four major conferences because there was nowhere in the city that they could go.

The revelation, by Gillian Cruddas, the bureau's chief executive, has revived criticism about the sale of York's biggest conference venue, The Barbican, and sparked calls by the business community for City of York Council to make a massive investment in a major conference centre.

Andrew Lindsay, president of the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, accused the city council of "disposing of the Barbican for short-term financial reasons."

He said that the word was quickly getting around to major conference organisers that in spite of York being central and full of history and entertainment, when it came to big conferences they would have to look elsewhere. A suggestion that York Central may provide space for a huge venue would not materialise for years.

"We are going to lose at least a decade's worth of big conference revenue," he warned.

Mrs Cruddas revealed today that requests from two organisations in the medical sector, one for 500 delegates, the other for 700, had to be turned away. There was also no room in York for a major IT organisation seeking a rendezvous for 700 guests and a request by a conference agency for an event involving up to 900 delegates had to be rejected.

But she thought this could be just the tip of the iceberg, with the bureau's conference desk believed to account for a mere five per cent of all bookings taken for York and although most big requests are likely to be funnelled through the desk, the extent of the loss, she said, "could be considerably higher."

She said York needed a huge conference centre to rival those in Harrogate and Newcastle. But she said York Tourism Bureau's conference desk was otherwise booming, taking bookings since April worth £400,000 compared with £208,000 over the same period last year.

Tony Bennett, assistant director for economic development for City of York Council, said the authority had been working with York Tourism Bureau through the First Stop York partnership to increase the business conference trade in recent years and there was a significant increase in the number of conferences as a result.

Updated: 09:56 Monday, September 26, 2005