FEARS are rising that a specialist Congestion Commission for York could be delayed yet further.

Papers going before a council committee this evening show that the Traffic Congestion Commission is unlikely to report any findings before this autumn, around 18 months after the unpopular Lendal Bridge closure ended and the commission was first mooted.

An outline on the commission is due to go before the council's cabinet for approval early next month, but an update on major transport projects, which will be given to the Economic and City Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee, says that even if the commission gets the go ahead from cabinet it is unlikely to produce a report or make any recommendations until September or October of this year.

But opposition councillors have warned that, with an election looming, the already divisive idea may not even get off the ground until after the election. It had been envisaged that the commission would work for a year, although the proposed start date of October 2014 has already been missed.

Cllr David Levene, the Labour transport cabinet member with responsibility for the scheme, said his party still wants to see the body set up and start work as soon as possible, but admitted it depends entirely on support from across the chamber.

He said: "Our hope has always been that it would be set up before the election, but ultimately it's going to come down to whether there is genuine cross party support."

Members in the Liberal Democrat group still have concerns on the costs and about the timescale - and they sit ay is "cutting it fine" to get anything done before the election, and would struggle to support the scheme without a promise that York residents could have some meaningful input.

A leaked council report in September said the project could cost as much as £161,000, if outside experts are brought in, and Conservative leader Chris Steward said his group too would be worried about the costs.

He said that the election could change the political control at the council, meaning the new administration could decide the change the plans altogether.

He said the council's normal scrutiny process, which sets up task groups of councillors to look at topics, would be a more cost effective way of tackling the project than the use of expensive outside experts.