Although work on the £4.5 million station in Haxby has been put on hold, it appears City of York Council is still clinging onto the scheme until the Government’s autumn spending review finally decides if there is any money left to fund it (Station plan may be put back ten years, The Press July 10).

Interestingly, Councillor Galloway appears to acknowledge that “larger, more expensive schemes linking additional villages and/or providing a gateway access station may be reasonable longer term aspirations”.

Put another way, a station for Haxby increasingly looks like an outdated, expensive, incomplete and incoherent option.

The council has lost its way on what sort of new station is needed for York and, in a future of high-speed networks, should welcome the opportunity to go back to the drawing board.

David Farnsworth, Old Orchard, Haxby, York.

• Ian Stokes, Principal Transport planner at City of York Council, said: “All bids for major scheme funding from the Government (including Haxby Station) are subject to Government review, hence the reason for work on Haxby coming to a halt for the present.

“However, in the current financial climate, schemes that offer high benefit and value for low cost (such as Haxby Station) are likely to be more successful than more expensive schemes.

“In addition to this, the future of rail is also something that will be considered within the long-term strategy, which is to form part of Local Transport Plan (LTP3). As at the present time the future role for rail, particularly high-speed rail north of Birmingham, is unclear.

“With all this in mind, City of York Council seeks to encourage people to undertake their daily activities in the most sustainable way.

“Shifting some journeys from car to rail helps toward achieving more sustainable travel and building a new station at Haxby would enable this to take place, particularly for residents intending to travel into York or further to Leeds and Manchester.”