READING the Guardian, one is led to believe that one of the country’s leading architects and guardians of our precious greenbelt has written: “with intelligent design and planning, we don’t need to overflow into new towns on greenfield sites”.

Someone ought to show this article to York’s Labour administration, who don’t want to nibble at our precious green belt – they simply want gobble it all up. Just look at the horrendous Whinthorpe and Cliftongate townships planned and the appalling identikit housing estates developers are already planning, to see in what direction York is going.

“Keep your eyes off the green belt,” says the same expert, “and concentrate on building townships in the city (that’s brownfield sites to you and me)”.

The answer in York is so simple that Labour can’t even see it – stick to the 800 houses a year recommended by consultants Arup, not the maniacal ambitions they currently aspire to in their relentless drive to get even closer to the socialist metropolis of Leeds.

To ignore in true Labour tradition all the good advice given will simply lead to the same fate that has befallen Rotherham council, where their over-ambitious housebuilding target of 24,000 houses over 15 years was rejected by government inspectors who reduced the total number of houses by 40 per cent to 14,000.

Why? Because the plans were found to “encroach too heavily on green belt land.”

George Barton, Wheldrake Ward Councillor, Deputy Leader Conservative Group, City of York Council.