A postal ballot to decide the political future of Burley-in-Wharfedale has been dramatically called off.

The vote on whether the village wanted its own parish council, due to be held before Christmas, was cancelled after Bradford councillors realised Burley Community Council (BCC) had been wrongly advised.

The revelation came about at last week's meeting of Shipley Area Committee which was meant to give the go-ahead for the ballot.

After Scrutinising a report from Bradford Council, the Committee realised that such a vote was only relevant for places without an existing parish council - unlike Burley, which is part of Ilkley.

District councillor for Ilkley Chris Greaves, who was at the meeting, explained: "The normal system with one of these is that after going to the area committee they say 'fine, get the ballot sorted' and it is all arranged within a couple of weeks.

"But not this time. We had a look at this and discovered there is a problem because Burley already has a parish council.

"So all this about having a ballot within three months which then goes to the Secretary of State and so on doesn't apply.

"When you have a parish council already it is up to the district council to look at a proposal for a new one and decide whether or not to carry out a review of the parish boundary.

"That will mean Bradford will be talking to all the interested parties - BCC, Menston Community Assoc-iation and Ilkley Parish Council."

Now the decision about a new parish council will rest with Bradford, rather than deputy prime minister John Prescott.

The Council's officers will hold a series of consultations over the coming months with people in Burley, Menston and Ilkley.

Burley's parish council plan also includes splitting Holme ward so that the Burley 'portion' of it will fall under the new body's control, while the Menston part remains separate.

But further progress with the whole idea will have to wait until the Boundary Committee completes its review of the district next June.

BCC chairman Bruce Speed, however, said he was still confident Burley could have its own parish council in place by the group's target date of 2004.

He said: "In a sense the Council officers gave us confusing advise but it doesn't really make a lot of difference and we are not up in arms about it.

"The main difference is that instead of just holding a ballot in the village, as we originally thought, the method of consultation will be different.

"We will be talking to Menston Community Association and Ilkley Parish Council, as well as coming back to the people of Burley, because they make up the other two parts of the existing council and of course have to be involved.

"We're not making a big song and dance about this or blaming anyone because we came away from the meeting feeling that we're still on track and on schedule, it's just that the route will be slightly different."

Mr Speed added that some form of ballot may still take place in the future, although details about which area it would cover were unclear at the moment.

Ilkley Parish Council chairman Mike Gibbons, who has been outspoken in his criticism of how the supporters of a 'breakaway' Burley council have been conducting their campaign, said he was glad Ilkley would now be playing an active role.

He said: "It's interesting that this has happened. We had believed all along that consultation with the existing parish council should have taken place, and we were quite annoyed that this process was going ahead with Bradford and that they had not sought to involve us.

"However, I do not wish to seem pleased at this stalling of the process because I wish the electorate of Burley to have the right to choose their own destiny with regard to a council - if that's what they want.

"My only concern has always been that the democratic process should be correctly enacted and that the majority of people are in favour one way or the other.

"If the decision ultimately is that the majority wishes its own parish council then so be it, and we, at that stage would be more than happy to support those people."

Coun Gibbons added that Bradford's recent decision to scrap funding for parish councils, which will mean a slight increase in rates as residents bear the cost, might have an influence on how events unfold in Burley.