Your front-page headline of October 20 repeats history.

I was an elected councillor in the mid-1980s and 1990s.

Rod Hills was council leader and he asked businesses to help assist the city in to become more proactive in bringing trade and business to York.

He and the Labour Party offered a pound-for-pound deal on Christmas street decorations and lights. Times and politics have moved on since then, but nothing seems to have improved.

I welcome the fact that Adam Sinclair wishes to encourage businesses to come together to promote the city centre. But I am wary as to how much businesses can actually deal with such issues as drunkenness and anti-social behaviour.

Surely, issues such as these need to be dealt with by the police. Mr Sinclair’s time could be better served if he were to lobby the government to reverse the cuts to the police and local government services.

Howard Perry, St James Place, Dringhouses, York.