NO one could suggest that New Osbaldwick has been rushed into development. The idea for a model, 21st century community has been evolving at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for years. The site was earmarked for housing before that.

When the scheme went public in June 1999, the foundation and City of York Council invited local people to play a part in its design. The first community planning day took place later that year.

On Saturday, another community planning day takes place. But the York Natural Environment Trust (YNET) will not attend. It is boycotting the event to raise public awareness at what it sees are the project's flaws.

A development of this size in our cramped city was bound to attract criticism. New Osbaldwick has met with opposition on several fronts. The green belt status of the land has been a source of dispute.

Other concerns centre on the number of houses planned for the 53-acre site, which rose from 300 to 540, and the impact on the wildflower meadows at Metcalfe Lane.

The council, meanwhile, must build homes somewhere. And the New Osbaldwick site is a far more thoughtful development than most.

It is designed to be a sustainable, affordable, neighbourly community. Like New Earswick a century ago, New Osbaldwick is envisaged as a pioneering archetype of social housing.

YNET clearly believes its objections have been lost in the council and the foundation's eagerness to see this dream become reality. That is why it will not take part in Saturday's planning day.

But YNET is wrong. The best way to influence any decision is to be involved. Tell your concerns to the people who matter. If you believe your viewpoint has been ignored, go back and make it again.

Sulking on the outside will do nothing for YNET's cause, or its credibility as a campaigning organisation.

If New Osbaldwick goes ahead without heeding YNET's concerns, it will only have itself to blame. Saturday is an opportunity it should not miss.

Updated: 10:33 Thursday, March 14, 2002