YOUR acerbic correspondent P Furness would do well to moderate his tone and check his facts before weighing down your letters column with disingenuous comment (October 15).

The White Swan Hotel is privately owned. The owners chose to leave it empty. The council has no prospect of compulsory purchase powers in this case.

If it did, would, I wonder, council taxpayers be happy to fund its purchase?

To suggest that the building be used as a performance space is risible. Massive investment would be required - at a time when the city is seeking uses for more easily adapted redundant buildings such as several empty churches.

Planning permission has now been granted for the Hungate development which includes an arts quarter. Council funding is being made available to assist the St Mary's Precinct project which likewise includes cultural provision.

The Barbican auditorium would have been modernised and re-opened by now were it not for the actions of a handful of objectors. The new campus at the university also includes a major performance arts space.

The city has backed the festivals theme with the next, celebrating Guy Fawkes, only weeks away. We have two theatres. We have backed a lighting project which will further enhance enjoyment of York's unique built environment.

Few, if any, other cities of our size offer this range of evening cultural opportunity.

Coun D'Agorne is right to say that the White Swan can be included in the area covered by the Coppergate/Piccadilly planning brief. However, this would make no practical difference to its status in compulsory purchase terms unless it could be demonstrated that the land was an essential feature of the comprehensive redevelopment plan.

Hence the fact that it is remote from the rest of the site - because of the intervening Coppergate I development - is a relevant factor.

Coun Steve Galloway,

Leader,

City of York Council,

Guildhall,

York.

Updated: 09:16 Tuesday, October 18, 2005