WHEN it comes to this vision thing, it is a lot easier to say what you don't want. We don't want Britain to be buffeted around by the global economy, but we don't want to be part of the single currency and we don't want to be America's lapdog. We don't want rotten schools, hospitals and trains, but we don't want to pay more tax. Square that circle, Mr "Caring Sharing" Duncan Smith.

As for York, we don't want more cars on the road and we don't want every open space to be gobbled up by housing. Neither do we want the city to become a living museum or a Leeds dormitory town.

As for me, I don't want any more huge, national chain stores in unimaginative shopping hangars. I don't want large blocks of flats like those planned for Skeldergate and featured in the paper yesterday. As usual, they are too big, too expensive, and too dreary.

So what do I want? Well, not a lot...

I want this wonderful quality of life in York to be protected. Then I want it to be extended to all areas of the city; not just the Huntingtons and the Fulfords, but the Chapelfields and the Foxwoods.

I want to live in a city which cannot be bought. A place where our social lives are protected from the voracious property developers. Somewhere which values its Frog Halls and Gimcracks not by pounds per square foot, but by volumes of laughter and conversation.

I want to live in a city where everyone has the right to a decent home. I want us to welcome newcomers, and not just the dollar-happy American tourist or the company executive buying a half a mill house. I want to live in a place where people from every ethnic background want to live.

I want York to be a place that bucks trends. One with a city centre dominated by local, independent shops, cafs, pubs and markets, a place which could never be mistaken for every other High Street in the land.

This would be a city where artists and musicians are given as much backing as the scientists in the Innovations Centre at Heslington. A place which has enough energy and ambition to stage England's Edinburgh Festival.

I want to live in a city that truly puts residents first. The sort of place which regards subsidies for entertainment and leisure not as a sin, but as a vital and pleasurable part of living in a civilised city.

I want to live in a city that is quicker to listen to young people than to condemn them. They are our most important counsellors - the York we shape now will be theirs to inherit.

I want to live in a city which looks after its own. One which never contemplates closing mental health day centres or cutting home help to elderly people.

I want to live in a city whose past inspires its future. A place where the Minster, the Merchant Adventurers' Hall, the station and the rail headquarters provide the standards which we expect new buildings to meet. A place where the pioneering spirit of Hudson, the Rowntrees and others is revitalised.

I want to live in a city which treasures its open spaces. This would be a York where planners are not commended for how quickly they process a planning application, but how carefully.

I want to live in a place which is fully weaned off its addiction to the motor car. A wonderful city where bus drivers are more plentiful than management consultants, and better paid to boot. On a summer's day I want to breathe in air, not airborne pollution.

And so on. This wish list is far from exhaustive, but it will do for now. They have always said that mine is an "I want" generation. I guess they're right.

Updated: 11:01 Wednesday, March 27, 2002