YORK’S political chiefs have been criticised for cancelling the first formal meeting of their cabinet.

The Labour cabinet, which now controls City of York Council, was due to hold its first meeting today, but has now delayed it.

Its agenda, published last week, included deciding whether to sell a site in Kent Street, near the Barbican Centre, to North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service for a new station, and recommending an increase in the number of new homes to be built annually under York’s Local Development Framework (LDF).

Council leader Coun James Alexander said: “The meeting has been put back due to the need for members and senior officers to establish a new process for dealing with cabinet business. One such matter is the moving of business to a monthly cycle of meetings, rather than fortnightly.

“Today’s meeting was in the council diary from the previous administration’s forward plan, which is now of no relevance.”

He said the decisions would be made at the next cabinet meeting.

But Conservative opposition leader Ian Gillies said: “The Labour leadership’s inexperience and naivety is demonstrated by allowing meetings to be scheduled, with agendas being published, and subsequently cancelled. We still do not know when the next meeting is to take place due to the state of confusion within the new cabinet. It does not augur well and the Labour administration has got off to a less than impressive start.”