AS a Derwenthorpe objector and an Osbaldwick parish councillor I am tired of the patronising assertions by Lib Dem councillors - including Jonathan Morley (Letters, March 31) - that some hypothetical bogeyman of a commercial developer would "do something much worse" with the Metcalfe Lane site.
The implication being that, therefore, we should all shut up and be happy with the Rowntree proposals.
Alternatives are not up for discussion. In any case, relevant planning policy requirements would apply just as much to an "ordinary" developer's proposals - possibly more so, given the amount of special pleading that has been made on the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust's behalf.
Without an adopted local development plan, an application of this scale and significance should, properly, go to public inquiry to be decided by an independent planning inspector. As should the university extension and the Germany Beck proposals.
The real issue is the present lack of a proper mandate for City of York Council to decide such matters. This is why residents are calling for a public inquiry, and this is why the Lib Dems are churning out ever more contrived arguments against one.
Catherine Foster,
Osbaldwick Lane,
York.
Updated: 09:45 Tuesday, April 05, 2005
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