CLLR JOE WATT is wrong to say that he and Labour are the only ones who care about young people getting on the housing ladder (Letters, March 10).

The Liberal Democrats want a local plan that delivers much-needed housing while protecting York’s character and green belt.

Labour’s Draft Local Plan in 2013 and the proposals backed by Cllr Watt last December exaggerated housing need and put 80 per cent of planned development on green-belt land.

These are the reasons we opposed both.

A realistic assessment of need will emerge when the 2011 census figures are studied together with the latest 2014 Office for National Statistics figures on household projections.

Only after these more accurate projections, based on population and economic growth, are published will the best local plan be realised.

Until this point, the Lib Dems will advocate building new houses on derelict brownfield sites, possibly with increased density, as suggested by some members of the York Environment Forum.

Our children need houses but we must not squander our precious natural environment.

Linda Maggs, Liberal Democrat candidate for Osbaldwick and Derwent, Church Lane, Dunnington, York.