A CONSERVATION charity is pleading with councillors in York to protect sites from opportunistic developers.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has written to all city councillors, and raised concerns with City of York councillors following the collapse of the York Local Plan.

The trust has long campaigned for protection for valuable and delicate sites like Heslington Tilmire and Askham Bog, but is now worried that the delays in the Local Plan process caused when the Labour group lost overall control and opposition councillors could demand a rethink controversial aspects of the plan could put the sites they campaign for in more danger.

The trust's chief executive Rob Stoneman said: “Our primary concern is that York will be vulnerable to speculative development with no policy or evidence base to assess the merit of each planning application in a strategic way. This could result in opportunistic, unplanned development and irreversible damage to York’s wildlife.”

Although sites near both the Tilmire and Askham Bog SSSIs were originally earmarked for development in the 15 years of the plan, the Moor Lane site near Askham Bog was later changed to land safeguarded for development after the Local Plan's 15 year period.

The trust, however, fears the site is threatened both in the short-term while there is no local plan setting out where development can take place, and in the long term through the safeguarding.

Dr Stoneman added: "Without a sensible Local Plan in place with sensible policies that protect York’s precious wildlife heritage, York’s wildlife and our quality of life remains severely threatened from speculative development."

Cllr Dave Merrett, the Labour councillor at the head of the Local Plan development, has agreed with the trust's warning.

He said: "It's a real risk, since the consultation was halted meaning we no longer have an emerging Local Plan."

But Liberal Democrat councillor Ann Reid, who was behind the motion which halted the Local Plan, said that while adopting a proper Local Plan should be a priority, the remaining draft document should offer some protection in the meantime.

She said: "We are all concerned about speculative development, but I think it's more important to get the plan right in the first place. The worst situation would be to go to a government inspector with a plan people could pick holes in. It would be found unsound, and we would be sent back to the beginning of the process."