I READ in Coun Galloway's report which accompanied the bill for council tax that most council departments are to move to central offices.

Fifty or so years ago it was widely believed that new council offices were to be built on land near to the Castle - used for many years as a car park and a disgrace to the setting of Clifford's Tower and the Eye of York.

Although the financial arrangements between the council and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation about Derwenthorpe have been shrouded in secrecy, it is rumoured the land at Osbaldwick is to be handed over at only a quarter of its real value and that JRF have the right to sell some of the land on to private developers.

If these 50 or so acres of very valuable building land were put on the open market for private development a vast sum would be available which can only be spent on capital projects.

What better capital project than to provide purpose-built council offices on the land next to Clifford's Tower, landscaped to complement its historic setting?

Ryedale District Council did this at Norton; why not York?

GAW Heppell,

Riseborough House,

Rawcliffe Lane, York.

Updated: 09:43 Monday, March 28, 2005