Are long-time York residents left trailing in the wake of wealthy incomers? Yes, say three friends who have formed a new political party committed to putting locals first. CHRIS TITLEY reports.

BORN and bred in York, Neil Cussons, Steve Barley and Andy Bonner are all now 37. Yet Steve and Andy still live with their parents, while Neil has moved to Leeds and worries he may never afford to move back to his beloved York.

Mates for more than 20 years - Neil and Andy went to Scarcroft School together - the three have had many pub discussions about their unhappy circumstances. All earn well below York's average male wage (said to be just over £23,000 in 2000): Andy is a warehouseman, Steve a civil servant and Neil works in the NHS.

The chances of any one of them moving into their own York home is nil. "When you save some money up, house prices go up even further. You can't save fast enough," says Steve.

"It's £140,000 for a little house in South Bank. I can only get a mortgage for £50,000-£60,000. That might get me a shed."

Neil adds: "My daughter's starting school in September. My wife and I both work in Leeds but our long-term plan is to come back.

"I love this place, it means a lot. I can't afford to live here any more. People have been stamped on."

They realised many others were in the same predicament: Andy has two friends in their 40s who have finally given up hope of staying in their home city and moved to cheaper towns in Yorkshire.

All three were Labour voters when Tony Blair came to power in 1997, and Neil even worked in Hugh Bayley's office. But they feel the Labour Government and MP, and the Liberal Democrat council, have all let them down.

"We believe people are being financially cleansed," says Neil. "If you go back a generation, working York people could afford their own homes.

"York was a happy city. It didn't have a lot of money, but there was enough to get by. Now you see people riding around in their BMWs and Mercedes: they're comfortably off, and normal York people are struggling.

"I think the MP has been useless in this respect, and the council's been pretty damn hopeless.

"York people don't run this city. They have come in from outside. They have no deep love or affection for the city."

Property developers, building luxury apartments for the wealthy few, have too much influence, says Steve. "I sometimes wonder who has the power. The developers seem to have more power than the elected councillors."

The construction of so many new buildings is putting York's heritage at risk. They are furious that Burton Croft, former home of university founder John Bowes Morrell, was torn down for more flats.

The plethora of new apartment blocks is both spoiling the streetscape and mocking less well-off residents, said Neil.

"It's luxury one and two-bedroom apartments. It's like Jim Bowen on Bullseye: 'Let's have a look at what you could have won' - it's taunting people who are still living with their parents and can't afford anything on York wages."

Fed up with the direction York was moving in, the trio resolved to do something about it. The result is York's newest political party: Keep York Local.

This may sound like something out of comedy show The League Of Gentlemen, and they acknowledge the comparison with the "local shop for local people" with good humour.

But they are deadly serious. They believe York families are being treated as second-class citizens and are determined to put them back at the forefront of the political agenda.

Busily writing a manifesto for Keep York Local, they are committed to offering several key pledges, including:

Truly affordable housing for York people, who would enjoy absolute priority on the housing list;

Full protection for York's heritage, with planning authority for the city centre taken from the council and given to York Civic Trust;

Policies to narrow the increasing gap between the city's rich and poor.

The party also plans to abolish york-england.com, formerly the Inward Investment Board. "They and Yorkshire Forward have deliberately brought people in, with Yorkshire Forward out on the streets of London leafleting people at King's Cross saying 'why not come and live in York?'," says Neil.

"They have created this awful situation where people can come and live so affluently, and so many others can't afford a decent roof over their heads."

Any firm wishing to relocate to York should be compelled to offer 75 per cent of their jobs to local people, they insist. "There's a lot of talent in York. Give local people a chance," says Steve.

Neil talks of incomers who "swagger in from the south" and don't care about their impact on York. Isn't there a danger that this smacks of parochialism, or even straightforward prejudice?

Neil takes the point, but insists: "We welcome everybody. We want inclusion, but we want inclusion for York people too."

"We want to start a debate," adds Steve. As things stand, he will be the leader of the new party and Neil the chairman. Steve also aims to be the first Keep York Local candidate, contesting Clifton in the May 2007 council elections.

"We're going to start in Clifton ward and see how it goes from there. If there's enough support, we'll go further," he says.

"There will be people who won't like it, but at least people will be talking about it."

Ultimately, Steve wants to stand against Hugh Bayley in a General Election. First, however, the three want to build grassroots support for their movement.

"We really want people to come up and say 'I will stand in a ward'. We are prepared to meet anybody, any time," Neil promised.

Andy said: "I am sure there are plenty of people out there who feel as strongly about these problems but don't know what to do about them."

Their message: join us and Keep York Local.

They plan to host some public meetings, and would like to hear from anyone who can offer them a venue.

And if you can come up with some ideas to raise funds for the new party, you are guaranteed a warm welcome. To get in touch, email yorkpeople@supanet.com

Updated: 08:59 Tuesday, August 23, 2005