OH, the irony of the statement from the York Labour Group Finance spokesperson criticising the use of a consultant covering the vitally important public health role.

While there will always be a need for a degree of freelance as part of the mix, the Conservative group are intent on keeping this to an absolute minimum.

The problem with the past Labour regime was that they overused and under-managed consultants, failing to intervene with those who failed to deliver at great expense to the public purse.

Cllr Barnes is simply playing politics which has backfired. He is factually incorrect when he states there had been a “decision to halt the appointment of a permanent director of public health”.

It is quite the opposite as the council is seeking to fill the substantive role.

The appointment panel which is no longer sitting to which he refers was for an interim role that only attracted one applicant, hardly a competitive field to ensure that we get the best calibre staff.

While he and the Labour group might have been happy to appoint all and sundry at top public sector salaries, the new council administration wants to make sure we get it right.

Paul Doughty, Strensall ward councillor, Conservative health spokesperson

 

ALLAN CHARLESWORTH has only ever seen the Local Plan from the view of the ‘haves’ (who own a home with a view) and not the ‘have nots’ as his letter on York Central shows (Letters, September 25).

It is a fact, and Mr Charlesworth needs to understand, that the reason it was classified in the Local Plan as ‘medium to long term’ for delivery is due to the extensive decontamination and infrastructure period.

This will take around five to ten years and see the removal of millions of tonnes of contaminated earth, with much more being returned to the site to level, stabilise and create the access points.

The result is that what is developed on York Central will need to produce a high yield due to development costs.

It is unlikely that the ‘viability methodology’ will provide any actual affordable homes and what will be provided will be flatted and of five or more floors along with prestige business accommodation.

If York Central is to have increased housing numbers and be an enterprise zone it will only stack up financially, and to criteria, by creating high level flats as envisaged in the 2006.

Tracey Simpson-Laing, Amberley Street, York

 

CLLR Barbara Boyce refers to further consultation with residents over the Newbury Avenue housing scheme as “a waste of public money” (Letters, September 28).

While I defer to any Labour councillor’s knowledge of wasting public money, I would venture that consultation and listening to the residents in that area as opposed to Labour’s dictatorial presentation of that housing scheme and similar schemes on council land such as Fenwick Street and Beckfield Lane tip is worthwhile.

There were significant concerns expressed by residents over the Newbury Avenue scheme through the planning process and vocally on the site visit, before as was the norm with council applications it was passed by planning committee on which I voted for refusal.

Cllr Mark Warters, Independent councillor for Osbaldwick and Derwent

 

EXTRA pay for two council bosses who run City of York Trading is to stop (The Press, September 26).

Will these two now repay the £9,000 that the new chairman said was wrong?

Geoff Robb, Hunters Close, Dunnington, York

 

HF Perry (Letters, September 28) urges our parliamentarians “to find a way of closing the tax loopholes” – a pious wish with which most of us would doubtless concur.

Unfortunately, it is “an accepted way of economic life” that the higher the tax rates, the greater the incentive there will be for taxpayers to avoid incurring them (or for that matter evading them, but that is a wholly different and criminal issue).

A wish "to avoid" is not necessarily illegitimate: in a competitive market a business may simply be seeking to reduce the cost of its goods and services to its customers or even to remain in business, either of which may have implications for employment which in turn has implications for overall tax receipts.

High tax rates encourage legislative complexity because of the need to avoid damaging and unintended consequences, thus requiring the parliamentary draftsmen to provide for qualifications and exceptions which in turn encourage those who are intent upon exploiting them in a way that had not been anticipated.

In other words what set out as legitimate qualifications and exceptions can very soon become exploited as loopholes.

Tony Lawton, The Old Rectory, Skelton, York

 

A P Cox is quite wrong to suggest the residents of Cranbrook Road (not Avenue) are being selfish requesting access to this narrow residential street be restricted in some way to combat the growing problem of rat-runners (Letters, September 25).

I would like to remind your correspondent the only highway users with a right of way access to the highway are pedestrians, cyclists, and horse-riders. Others, such as motorists, do so under licence, and cannot expect unlimited access to all suburban streets.

As the residents are not proposing the right of way be extinguished, any accusations they are attempting to privatise the street are disingenuous.

The residents here are motivated by the need to create a safe neighbourhood for their children. Cranbrook Road is a tight street with limited sightlines on the bends.

Residents claim to have witnessed cars hurtling down here at speeds approaching 50mph. A collision at such speeds with a pedestrian will likely be fatal. York Green Party supports any proactive and progressive means to reduce speeds and make our streets safer for all.

We call on City of York Council transport chief Cllr Ian Gillies to approve the reasonable request to install bollards here without delay, and ensure there are no future tragic accidents, in what was historically a quiet, residential area.

Baz Buchanan, York Green Party ward group for Holgate, Teal Drive, York

 

THE Fulford and District Branch of the Royal British Legion will hold its next meeting on Thursday, October 8. The meeting starts at 7.30pm in the Sergeants Mess at Imphal Barracks.

Further details may be obtained by phoning the secretary on 01904 426123.

Ian Smith, Branch press officer, Stockton Lane, York