AFTER reading Cllr Dafydd Williams’ comments in The Press (June 19) about using what little is left of York’s green belt, I now realise that, after voting Labour all my life until this time, I have made the right decision.

Labour needs to realise they have lost York because of their attitude on major things like green belt land and traffic problems.

I believe now in Conservative councillor Chris Steward we have a man who will at least listen to what people have to say on these matters.

How low can Labour get by saying that it is wrong to get help from other councils if they have spare land?

It has been a disgrace to see school playing fields (like Haxby Road) and parks disappear under a Labour council.

When I attended a meeting about green belt land being used for housing, they would only say they had the right to use it.

N Johnston, Pottery Lane, Heworth, York

 

THE Tories’ planned extension of right to buy (RTB) to housing association properties, along with the coalition council’s efforts to severely curtail new housing in the city, paints a bleak picture for those aspiring to buy or rent their own home in York.

A recent article detailed how civil servants told leading Tory ministers that the RTB plan would be expensive – at least £5 billion, but up to £11.2 billion according to the National Housing Federation, as well as lead to a shortage of affordable homes as replacements aren’t built in equal numbers.

To cap all of this, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says the policy would “worsen the UK’s underlying public finance position”, representing a “substantial giveaway” to tenants.

When you are preaching austerity to those (usually in work) receiving benefits, it’s a curious decision to sell someone a house for £40,000 that is worth £100,000.

RTB would be great if it led to the equal replacement of properties sold but as councils up and down the country (and the Government) know very well, it doesn’t – only 46 per cent replaced in recent years. And with the Coalition in York unwilling to allocate adequate land for housing, the prospect here in York is roughly nil.

Cllr Barbara Boyce, Labour spokesperson for housing and safer communities, City of York Council

 

IN his letter (June 22), Keith Chapman congratulates First York on their “new initiative” in holding bus roadshows for the travelling public. These are not new.

I attended one last year at Acomb Library where I was welcomed by smiling faces, asked to fill a form in expressing my concerns and thanked for attending. End of story.

Next batch of bus alterations, our local bus has been cancelled.

In Holgate, we are unfortunate in having one councillor who is too busy carrying out her duties as Lord Mayor to be fully involved in ward matters and we have two new councillors who cannot be aware of the history of our local bus service.

The service I refer to is 13A Acomb to Haxby and back, the only service that residents on the Holly Bank Loop have without a very long walk to get an alternative service.

I would be interested to know if there is any where else within the York city boundary where residents have a longer walk than those on Holly Bank to use public transport.

There are a lot of elderly people on Holly Bank and Hamilton Drive who, it would seem, are being abandoned and left stranded.

A P Cox, Heath Close, Holgate, York