A BID to scupper controversial plans to sell a York coach and car park has been thwarted.

Calls for City of York Council to withdraw from the proposed sale of the Union Terrace site to York St John University for a campus expansion were narrowly voted down by councillors during a fiery extraordinary meeting of the authority.

Residents and businesses will now have their say on the future of the site after the ruling Labour cabinet agreed to send five options out for a public consultation lasting six weeks.

The council’s Liberal Democrat group called last night's extraordinary meeting amid a massive public backlash against the original plans to sell the entire site, which Labour said would create new jobs and provide £2 million for a scheme to give the city centre a facelift and introduce pay-on-exit parking.

The party subsequently backed down on those proposals and a new list of options, which all include selling part of the site but retaining some coach parking, were drawn up. But campaigners who handed in a petition signed by 22,248 people have continued to press for the scheme to be abandoned, saying it would wreck trade for city centre businesses and harm York’s economy and tourism image.

The Save Union Terrace Car Park group staged a demonstration outside the Guildhall ahead of the crunch meetings, with members of the campaign also addressing councillors about their fears over the proposed sale.

Councillors voted 22-20 against the Lib Dem motion to withdraw the sale, with Labour councillor Brian Watson, who represents the Guildhall ward which includes Union Terrace, abstaining.

Council leader James Alexander admitted: "We made a mistake by not going forward with public consultation from the start.

"But there is a difficulty in this city with getting development moving, and if we don't make tough decisions, we will end up in a situation where we are just managing decline and losing our economic share.

"We have to take these tough decisions to ensure the economy of this city moves forward. We will not let people down in our pursuit of economic growth and jobs."

But Lib Dem leader Carol Runciman claimed the options had been drawn up "on the hoof" and branded Labour's handling of the issue "a shambles".

"The whole sale is discredited and should be withdrawn, and if Labour really wants to consider this sale, they should start again," she said.

Conservative leader Ian Gillies said the options were "an ill thought-out smokescreen", adding: "Supporting this sale will lose the respect of the electorate, damage the reputation of the city in the eyes of many and put many businesses at risk."

And Green councillor Dave Taylor said the issue had been "particularly badly-handled" and called for more time for scrutiny and to "consider ideas generated by the public".

The five options include between 20 and 34 coach spaces being retained at Union Terrace, with four of those options involving providing additional facilities for coaches at St George’s Field car park. The council has said this would ensure there was no overall loss of coach-parking space in the city and all the choices would include some accessible car-parking for disabled users, with extra bays being provided at Monk Bar and Bootham Row car parks.

A report which went before last night's cabinet meeting said the York St John expansion could attract between 1,000 and 1,500 more students to the city, create up to 200 new jobs in the region and inject £31 million a year into the local economy.

Director of city strategy Bill Woolley told councillors the options had been "carefully thought through" by an experienced team of officers who had been involved in the previous relocation of car parks in York.

The council will consult on the five options from today as part of an online survey on their website www.york.gov.uk

It is intended that the survey will run until 16 September.