Clearly the apt and pithy headline Council Pays Lip Service To Public Consultation has upset Dave Merrett (Letters, May 4).

However, sensibilities apart, Mr Merrett fails to point out that the second consultation was one in which the council set the agenda and the questions, but was not a legal requirement in the Gateway planning process. By contrast, the first statutory consultation required under planning law produced more than 460 local letters of objection from those who live in Rawcliffe and from many groups elsewhere in York - aptly named People Power by the editor.

Mr Merrett, like all politicians, failed to answer all the questions in my letter and missed the point. He could not explain why the people of York have not been consulted on the new proposed inner chamber method of decision making proposed by the Labour-led council.

Derek Paterson,

Ings View,

Shipton Road,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.