ORGANISERS of York’s annual ice rink have launched a last ditch bid to stage the popular attraction again next Christmas.

Staff from Lunchbox Theatrical Productions have been back this week to every potential location for the rink, including ones previously ruled out because of problems such as poor access, lack of space and flooding risks.

Spokeswoman Maria Farrugia said they had bent over backwards to overcome such difficulties, for example by looking at using a smaller rink.

She said the company would submit a proposal to City of York Council in a fortnight’s time and sit down to discuss the options.

But she said it was important to try to make a decision if possible by the end of this month, as several months of preparation time would be needed to stage a rink in a new location.

The rink, which attracted about 45,000 skaters last Christmas and was named earlier this year as one of the city’s best tourist attractions, has been staged for the past few years in the Eye of York, near Clifford’s Tower.

But York Crown Court officials have told the council it cannot go there again because of disruption to court proceedings, despite a petition signed by 20,000 supporters.

A bid to relocate it to the Museum Gardens has also been blocked by the York Museums Trust, which believes the gardens would be an “entirely inappropriate” location for what it believes would be a visually intrusive rink.

Lunchbox has said previously it believed there was only one more suitable option left for the rink, but could not disclose its location.

York council leader Andrew Waller, who has spoken previously of his concern at the possible loss of the rink because it is such a major attraction for York, said today the authority was working with the Ice Factor on a number of possible sites, and he would be meeting with the chief executive of the Museums Trust very soon.

“Once all the options have been examined, I hope that we will resolve this issue by the end of June,” he added.