THE few planning notices that were put up have long since faded away and anyone going for a walk across the meadows at Osbaldwick may be forgiven if they did not know that Joseph Rowntree Foundation was planning to build its new "Derwenthorpe" housing estate there.

Six years ago this week, the foundation announced plans to build on the meadows and six years on few could have foreseen the obstacles that would arise.

The headline on June 16, 1999 was 'Field of dreams' but perhaps now it should now be 'Keep on dreaming.

With the foundation recently having fallen out with their architects, PRP Partnership, and now looking for a redesign it seems the model village will be subject to further delays.

However, the obstacles to the development are greater than ever. The Fifth Avenue access still has not been agreed, nor has the under- grounding of the pylons started. A public inquiry and judicial review is awaited and a housing market crash looms ever closer.

Perhaps foundation director Lord Best should have listened to the advice given by Barry Potter when he warned the worst thing that you can do when in a hole is keep on digging because sooner or later the sides will collapse in on you.

Derwenthorpe is a hole the foundation should have climbed out of long ago.

Adrian Wilson,

Grasmere Drive,York.

Updated: 10:42 Saturday, June 18, 2005