CITY councillors have called for a set of conditions to be met before they consider issuing a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on the site of a bombed cinema.
Campaigners are hoping to transform the ruins of the National Picture Theatre in Beverley Road into a visitor attraction and education centre.
But the council's planning committee has now agreed to delay a decision on a CPO until details surrounding a number of issues have been confirmed.
They include securing confirmation that Heritage Lottery funding is available for the facelift project.
Some councillors said they did not want the council ending up footing the bill for maintaining the site should a CPO be successful.
Some even remain unsure about committing any council funding towards a CPO at all, even though money has previously been set aside to match any Heritage Lottery funding in a budget covering City Plan projects.
Councillor Pete Allen said he found it difficult to support spending any money on the ruins of the privately owned former cinema, which was bombed in 1942.
He said: "At a time when we having to save £150,000 by reducing opening hours at our museums and making three or four people redundant in the process, I am not sure how we can justify buying something like this."
His concerns were echoed by Councillor Tom McVie.
He said: "As yet, we do not have a guarantee of any money being on the table from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
"We don't want to be committing the council to writing a blank cheque to purchase this site and then find ourselves in a position where we are saddled with ongoing revenue costs for the next ten, 20, 30, 40 or 50 years."
The National Civilian World War Two Trust is hoping to lease the site from the council if its owner Hakim Saleem decides to sell.
So far, he says the council has failed to meet his asking price.
The ruins also failed to meet their reserve price at a recent auction.
Councillor Alan Clark said agreements needed to be in place with the trust to ensure it would take on responsibility for all of the site's costs in the event of a CPO being approved.
He also called for a full structural survey of the ruins to be carried out, alongside a detailed cost estimate of any necessary works.
The deferral means the matter is not expected to go back before the planning committee until October.
Trust spokesman Alan Canvess said his members would continue to lobby the council to strike a deal with Mr Saleem without the need to resort to a CPO.
He said the trust had met with Heritage Lottery Fund officials on three occasions and they had indicated likely support for the project.
