I AGREE with the comments from Nigel Ayre (Letters, March 20) regarding the likely impact of the excessively high housing targets in Labour’s proposed local plan.

The high targets mean large allocations of green belt land which developers will understandably cherry-pick, thus undermining the development of harder to bring forward brownfield sites first. The Green Party has consistently argued this point.

What is very puzzling is that in complete contradiction of this view, a large part of the enticing shopping list in the recent Lib-Dem budget amendment was to be paid for by cancelling the council’s contribution to opening up access to the York Central site – one of the key brownfield sites (offering up to 1,100 new homes) Nigel is so keen on “putting first”.

Had the Lib-Dem budget been passed then the announcement of Government funding (20/03/15) for a York central housing zone would almost certainly not have happened as the council would not have been able to demonstrate its own commitment to moving the site forward in the competitive bidding process.

Denise Craghill York Green Party chair, lead candidate for Guildhall ward Broadway West, York.