DURING the meeting to discuss relocation of the Arc Light Centre, it became clear that City of York Council has a ten-point plan to consult on one of the most contentious issues it has faced in recent times:

1 Place the cart (site selection) before the horse (the planning application process).

2 Draw up a list of criteria which are skewed towards the agendas of the council and the developer.

3 Create an arbitrary long list and whittle it down using those criteria, eating up vital consultation time in the process.

4 Take a York A-Z and mark on the four short-listed development sites.

5 Place a coffee cup over each site, draw round it, denote only the people living inside the circle as "affected" residents and invite them to a joint ward meeting.

6 Ensure the panel taking questions at the ward meeting either work for Arc Light or are not in a position to answer any meaningful questions relating to it.

7 Be sure to involve no one who will actually be making the final decision.

8 Give local residents just four working days over Easter to compile their responses following the ward meeting.

9 Host the executive decision-making meeting in a room capable of holding just 60 members of the public.

10 Compel local people to "apply" to attend a meeting of their own council.

Coun Dave Merrett was big enough to acknowledge that he and his colleagues made a complete mess of the Shipton Street consultation. He insisted lessons had been learned.

But the message that came through loud and clear from the hundreds of people at the Monday-night meeting was that while this consultation is an improvement on the last debacle, it's still nowhere near where it needs to be.

Greg Moulds,

Sycamore Terrace,

York.

Updated: 09:58 Monday, April 17, 2006