ON JUNE 18, you covered council leader James Alexander’s ‘State of the City’ address.

Due to having our group meeting at the same time, I was unable to attend, but I decided to look at the recording on Youtube.

Interestingly on the side of the video the ‘similar videos’ featured in full order: Chancellor George Osborne, former and current Bank of England Governors Mervyn King and Mark Carney, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Business Secretary Vince Cable. They did not feature a single council leader giving such a speech.

At our group meeting the issues discussed included tackling congestion, the local plan, the appalling state of council scrutiny, the new £700 a day director and the Tour de France.

Until control of the council changes, we will not be able to stop Cllr Alexander indulging in his State of the City address, but at similar events we would ask that rather than council officers attending to indulge him they instead work on the issues that concern us and our residents, such as actually running the city.

We should remain a city with a council, not – as Labour seem to want to be – a council with a city.

Councillor Chris Steward, Rural West York, Conservative group leader, City of York Council.