ONCE again a department of City of York Council - Leisure Services in this case - has put the cart before the horse by assuming a project is approved without going through the proper planning procedures.

It was only after reading an article in the Evening Press that we found out about the council's Foss Bank skateboard project.

This, in theory, gave us the chance to at least voice our concerns over potential noise and misuse of the area. But Leisure Services had already advertised the facility in their own pre-summer publication and on Minster FM.

Consequently, skateboarders and mountain-bikers are already using the area without planning permission having been granted.

This dismissive treatment of local residents by the council is disgraceful. Worse still, judging by various letters that have appeared recently in the Press, it is not an isolated incident What has happened to the council's much-trumpeted policy of consultation? In our case it is definitely an afterthought.

Vivienne Lee,

Feversham House Management Committee,

Jewbury, York.