IT was disappointing to read that City of York Council has been given the green light to cover another greenfield site in the city with concrete, tarmac and bricks.

Are we never going to learn that city dwellers need these open sites that are now fast diminishing? I refer to the proposed new St Barnabas School.

The site, near the church, was reclaimed from rough land and a refuse tip back in the early Sixties, so the people of Leeman Road and beyond have enjoyed the use of this public open space for about 40 years.

It has, in effect, become Leeman Road's own stray.

It has been said that St Barnabas is old and out of date. Perhaps the same could be said of Scarcroft School and St Peters.

As far as I can see it is a well-built brick structure in fine, maintained order. It has a secure walled playground, is central to the area it serves, away from the busy through-route road in Leeman Road and, most importantly, is well away from the river which for a primary school is an important consideration.

If a new school has to be built, could not a brownfield site be sought? There is a brownfield site on Leeman Road itself. I refer to the massive site between Lincoln Street and Balfour Street which, in my days in Leeman Road, was known as the Old Park.

At the moment it appears to be a vandal-damaged, graffiti-blighted underused eyesore which local residents would prefer to see replaced with a single storey primary school.

KA Roworth,

Reighton Avenue,

York.

Updated: 09:57 Friday, June 04, 2004