I AM in the process of selling my house, and had agreed a sale. Unfortunately this has now fallen through, the reason given being the Arc Light hostel and its proposal to move to this area.

Having struggled to get on the housing ladder, and made sacrifices to pay the mortgage, you can imagine that this has come as a bitter blow.

This area is one of the most densely populated sections of York, and common sense must surely dictate that this is a bad idea - it's the wrong proposal for the wrong area.

Why should our property prices be adversely affected by this unwanted development, that we have neither asked for nor been consulted on?

As for your reader who suggested it was a good thing for the area, I can only assume that she rents in the area because no one, no matter how altruistic and well meaning, can possibly be happy to see the price of their property adversely affected by this plan.

If they do own a house in the area, then presumably they are financially much better off than most of us for it not to be a concern.

Jon Calpin,

Baker Street,

York.

Updated: 09:37 Monday, August 01, 2005