I READ with interest your story on the York Central development debate that took place at the recent public consultation event.

While there are obvious concerns about how a ten-storey building would adversely affect York’s precious historic character, there is another aspect to this story that is also troubling.

There has been much made of the Enterprise Zone status the site has now been given which is clearly there to promote business not just the actual site itself. The council seem to be going one step further by underpinning the high cost of delivering it.

Is it really the role of council to take on speculative development by funding the extremely high costs of the infrastructure?

This is tens of millions of pounds of taxpayer’s money being spent on a site that a corporate will gain from. Surely this money would be better spent keeping council jobs and services going in these times of budget cuts?

Do residents of York want their council to take on the financial risk which, if unsuccessful, could leave a gaping hole in their budgets?

I’m not a planning expert but on the face of it CYC seem to have lost sight of their role to guide development and are now taking on risk, which should be borne by the private sector and not the local/national taxpayer.

S Rankine, Fairfax Crescent, Tockwith, York