THE Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust was slated today over its consultations with local residents on New Osbaldwick.

The Meadlands Area Residents Association (MARA) criticised a series of committees set up to involve the local community over the controversial scheme for a new York village.

It claimed the consultation process appeared to be in limbo.

Spokesman Tom Hughes said that a consultation committee was originally set up with the intention of listening to residents' concerns.

"But it turned into an autocratic presentation by the trust, coupled with unnecessary rules, remits and codes of conduct."

He said the committee's last meeting was held on September 1, and no one seemed to know if it would continue to meet. A meeting of a separate "partnership" committee, scheduled for November 17, had been postponed to December 16. "Why? No one knows!" A different "focus group" had held its initial and only meeting on October 6, with representatives from the association and Osbaldwick Parish Council excluded.

He claimed the meeting was "conducted in confusion and ended in chaos", and it was not known when the next one would be held.

Mr Hughes said people had been left with a sense of betrayal, and the association was proposing that the four communities affected by the new village - Meadlands, Osbaldwick, Fifth Avenue, and Temple Avenue - should be invited to send two representatives to an informal meeting chaired by an independent chairperson.

The trust said today that the consultation panel was made up of representatives from the local community, including Osbaldwick Parish Council and MARA, and had met regularly over the past four years and made a positive contribution to the development plans.

Community services manager Jacquie Dale said panel members decided on the membership and the way meetings were conducted.

The panel would meet again once City of York Council had decided on an outline planning application, probably in late January.

She said the Partnership Committee was made up of four city council-elected members, four Rowntree trustees and four members of the consultation panel. "MARA chose not to participate, however Osbaldwick Parish Council are formally represented.

"This group will meet in January to look at the detailed proposals for phase 1. The meetings in November and December have been postponed until planning approval is granted and the detailed proposals for phase 1 are ready. The committee has been kept fully informed."

She said further meetings with a working group, referred to by MARA as a focus group, would be held in January.

The row broke after the trust began distributing thousands of leaflets in York, arguing that the new homes were badly needed and that the scheme would improve the environment.

Updated: 10:49 Friday, December 05, 2003