YORK has been at the heart of Britain’s rail network since the earliest days of the railways. We have George Hudson to thank for that: he it was who insisted his home town should be a major junction on the emerging London to Edinburgh route. So successful was he that, when York’s “new” railway station was built in 1877, it was the largest in the world.

We may no longer be able to boast the world’s biggest railway station. But York is still at the very centre of the East Coast mainline - making the city a convenient half-way stop-off point for visitors travelling from the English to the Scottish capitals.

We want things to stay that way. So we agree with Conservative councillors Ian Gillies and Chris Steward in their opposition to a York Parkway station west of York which could potentially be used to bypass the city if the controversial high speed HS2 route ever extends as far north as Scotland.

We first reported on the possibility in March last year. It was one of four options being mooted in the event of the northern extension of the route. A Government report at the time identified York as one of the major speed constraints on the London to Edinburgh line, and said a parkway could make significant time savings. York central MP Rachael Maskell warned then that a Parkway station would damage the city’s economy, as well as adding to congestion because of the numbers of people driving out to catch the train. We may be talking about something that won’t happen for 30 years, yet these are genuine concerns. Cllrs Gillies and Steward, who represent York’s Rural West ward, are now lobbying for the Parkway option to be removed from the HS2 ‘options’ papers. We’re with them all the way. A Parkway station would significantly reduce York’s importance as a railway city, as well as leading to development on greenfield land to the west of the city. It would be a backward step and should be scotched at the earliest possible opportunity.