NEIL MCILVEEN suggests that, in order to achieve agreement on the Local Plan, residents should talk to local Conservatives (Letters, November 19).

But, surely, as an elected Labour councillor this is his job. Sadly, given the crisis of confidence in his administration, any such agreement is unlikely before May.

York’s problem is not that we don’t have a local plan, but that we do – the unofficial plan cooked up by David Cameron long before the last election to scrap green belt planning restrictions, thus allowing landowners and developers to maximise their profits, while returning as little as possible of the massively enhanced value of the land to the community.

As one of the finest achievements of successive post-war governments, the green belt belongs to everyone, not just the planners, developers and landlords.

Labour’s presumption that everyone should agree with them just because they have squandered tens of thousands of pounds on consultants is supremely arrogant, as is their attempt to bully others with the threat of uncontrolled development.

If there is to be any development in the green belt, it should conform to a vision of how we see the future of our city and not driven by profits for the few.

It’s time for Labour to toughen up.

Being pro-business does not mean you have to be soft on multi-millionaires, even if they happen to sit in the House of Lords.

Martin Bartlett, Scarcroft Road, York.