Listen and respond

Heslington is a conservation village surrounded by countryside. Its best protection is to refuse any massive development around the village on the green belt.

However, university planners have rejected other sites and say that, after consultation, they have made concessions, citing their magnanimous decision not to drive a path across the village green in front of the church.

So it is odd that only days before, commenting on Heslington's village design statement, they said this crossing would almost certainly be required.

It was City of York Council's planning committee which demanded this important area was respected.

Some "concession"!

The university's unremitting efforts to isolate the church on a traffic island continue.

Dean's Acre, the open green space behind the church, was donated by York benefactor Dean Milner-White specifically to "command the approach to the lovely village church".

Despite vociferous protests, plans show the university has chosen to drive a road and build a car park across it.

The promised green buffer zone between the village and the proposed campus received similar cavalier treatment with local opinion and the council planning committee's strong representations being ignored.

No wonder the villagers have no trust that their concerns will be addressed.

Much more consultation is needed on many vital issues.

Some, such as traffic and student housing, affect the wider as well as the local population.

An enlightened educational establishment should have a moral and social obligation to its community and not act as a money-grabbing developer.

It is time for the university to really consult. Not just to listen, but respond.

Richard Frost,

Chair, Heslington Parish Council,

Hall Park,

Heslington, York.

...I READ your article on the ambitious plans for York University's expansion (April 30) with a certain amount of envy.

It includes a large lake, extended hedgerows, woodland and an area so large it will require a "people mover" to transport staff and students across the campus.

I am all for learning in a pleasant relaxing atmosphere but this goes too far.

Had this green belt land been released for housing, or something similar, I am sure the delightful lake and other open spaces would soon have been sacrificed to make way for high density dwellings to ensure greater profit and comply with Government density directives.

People would then have to make this type of environment their permanent home.

Generally, students will only be there for three or four years. Or is the development seen as a superior workplace for the hard working staff?

A more suitable place for this addition to the university would be the York Central site, behind the rail station close to the pubs and clubs and other city attractions so popular with students.

Administration, accommodation and lecture facilities could all be fitted on to this site but the lake and woodland would have to be sacrificed.

There would be far less traffic in the Hull Road/Heslington area of the city.

This would make life easier for those residents who now face rising bollards and other possible traffic restrictions on roads originally built to allow access for York residents.

Alec T Acomb,

Hillcrest Avenue,

Nether Poppleton,

York.

...WE in the Fulford/Heslington area of York are increasingly alarmed at the prospect of huge increases in road traffic in our area should the Germany Beck development and university expansion be given the go-ahead by City of York Council.

Until another road is built - off the A64 between the A19 and the Grimston Bar exit - to service this increased traffic flow City of York Council should withhold planning permission for these developments.

Michael Wilson,

Half Acre,

Main Street,

Fulford, York.

...NOT content with denying York's citizens first class leisure and entertainment facilities through the regeneration of the Barbican, we now have another set of residents denying people homes (Derwenthorpe) and yet another selfish individual preventing much needed improvements to York's schools (St Barnabas). I suggest these groups go and live on a desert island far away and leave the silent majority to get on with our lives.

I am sick and tired of these protest groups.

Nora Williams,

Huntington Road,

York.

Updated: 11:27 Friday, May 07, 2004