THE city council's decision to grant York Credit Union Study Group £25,000 (June 24) is the best news the city has had for ages.

This grant, and the additional cash it is unlocking, will enable us to open a York-wide credit union, a local savings and loans cooperative, later this year.

The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) offers us enthusiastic support with a doubly fabulous £56,000 over two years.

Although this level of start-up funding is less than originally indicated in the 2002 feasibility study, it will pay for staff, premises, equipment and training for a few years until the project is generating enough income to sustain itself.

Our long-term aim is to have a central "shop-front, back-office" premises accessible for all.

A tremendous amount of work has gone into getting this far. We wouldn't be where we are now without the study group volunteers and paid staff, plus all our partners: councillors and officers, representatives of voluntary organisations, local and regional agencies and commercial businesses and members of the public who have supported us.

However, the really hard work is to come. With a provisional launch date of November, we have to get everything and everyone in place to open York Credit Union.

The council and JRCT grants will make this possible, and together we can work towards building an ethical and sustainable solution to the problems of extortionate interest rates, household financial mismanagement and the poverty and distress they cause.

John Cossham,

Director,

York Credit Union Study Group,

Hull Road, York.

Updated: 10:34 Wednesday, June 29, 2005