IT was no rubber-stamping exercise. During eight hours of often heated debate last night all the main concerns about York University's expansion were aired.

The biggest development on York's drawing board was always likely to cause the biggest headache for planners.

They had to weigh considerable pros against sizeable cons.

The university's greatest ally is its tremendous track record. In little more than 40 years, it has grown from an educational embryo of 200 students to become one of Britain's top universities.

More recently its innovative approach has yielded the Science Park, forging links with industry which have established York as a high-tech city. The university's future success is undoubtedly important for the city's prosperity.

University chiefs see Campus 3 as emerging from the same tradition of visionary leadership which has propelled it so far so fast.

But this is now a powerful, multi-million pound institution with major entrepreneurial ambitions.

Objectors view its determination to expand in nowhere but Heslington as more high-handed than single-minded.

The loss of green belt on this scale, the potential traffic nightmare, the impact on wider York of so many new students are substantial issues which demand to be independently assessed.

That is all the more true because this city still lacks the guiding framework of either a Local Plan or a defined green belt.

A public inquiry into the university expansion may be costly, but it is inescapable.

Updated: 11:04 Thursday, March 17, 2005