YORK is on the move. Ancient landmarks anchor the city to its past, but they are the only still points in a blur of activity.

Almost every day the Evening Press reports on another proposed development. Plans are being submitted with dizzying relentlessness: to turn pubs into houses, to build more hotels, to create business parks on the Green Belt, to transform city centre sites near the railway station or at Hungate.

As train building in York is again threatened, it is worth reflecting that the current boom can be traced directly back to the moment when Thrall Europa's predecessors, ABB, announced in 1995 it was to close down.

It was following that announcement that the city council and its partners launched a strategy to attract inward investment. They have succeeded brilliantly, diversifying the York's economic base so it is not over-reliant on any one industry.

Their work created a momentum for development which is still accelerating. But we could be in danger of seeing it spin out of control. So the call by York Civic Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for a long-term vision for York is very timely.

This city is speeding ahead, but no one is sure of the destination. Planners are so engrossed in individual projects they have no time to sit back and consider where their combined efforts are taking us.

There are plenty of documents governing York's medium term future, the Local Plan, the Transport Plan, the Green Belt Plan. Neither are we short of ideas for what York should become: a Science City, a heritage centre, an environmental pioneer.

All these are valid, but disparate visions. What we lack is a singular blueprint, an overall design which would allow the city to grow while protecting its unrivalled quality of life.

Lord Esher's report stopped York's drift in the Sixties, prompted debate and gave the city much-needed direction. The Civic Trust and Rowntree Foundation are proposing something similar now. It is an excellent idea, and one this newspaper fully supports.

Updated: 11:15 Tuesday, March 05, 2002