RECENT letters suggest the Derwenthorpe development is being thwarted because of great crested newts. This is not the case. Delays are over concerns that the development will cause flooding along Osbaldwick Beck and problems with access.
Mitigation measures have been proposed to deal with the wildlife on the site. The plans are being redrawn to accommodate the great crested newts.
Yet the site is also home to rare mammals such as water voles and rare plants such as pepper saxifrage. Claims by Joseph Rowntree Foundation and City of York Council that the proposals will increase the wildlife on the site are not to be believed.
They have been secretive to date and have downplayed wildlife on the site.
Common sense suggests that bulldozing the site will exterminate most of the life present and the expert advice from English Nature is that schemes to transplant meadow-land "carry a very high failure rate and do not constitute a viable mitigation strategy".
The best strategy to protect the wildlife is to simply find an alternative site for the development, preferably on brownfield land.
Or the Foundation could simply start renovating the hundreds of council houses that City of York Council has which are empty or in disrepair.
Adrian Wilson,
Grasmere Drive,
York.
Updated: 09:32 Monday, July 19, 2004
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