I THANK Mr Acomb for the ideas he put forward in his letter ('What a perfect site', July 27).

The council is indeed aware that the 20 or so buildings it occupies (though it doesn't own them all) in the city are not best suited to the provision of good quality customer services, staff communication or the provision of modern office facilities.

The council's property services team have started looking at options for some alternative form of office accommodation and will consider all options.

I am mindful that the citizens of York won't be wanting to fund a "town hallstyle" set of offices from increased council tax, so we are only going to consider options that will be cheaper than the existing costs of owning, renting and running our existing offices.

The identification and consideration of options is likely to take some time so we can evaluate which options best meet the needs of our customers, citizens and staff.

However, the council does recognise the need for a substantial change to the present arrangements.

Simon Wiles,

Director of resources

City of York Council,

Library Square, York.

Updated: 11:19 Wednesday, August 04, 2004