THE plan by City of York Council to buy 14 new flats from a developer at the Pack of Cards pub site (The Press, April 26) will help in the supply of smaller housing for council tenants down-sizing, but it is an expensive way of doing it.

Why aren’t the council using their own brownfield land to build such accommodation?

These unused derelict sites should be put to good use in building council homes of all sizes, and the bonus is that with no land purchasing costs, and no developers profits to take into account, each unit could be built for about half the cost of a private developer’s selling price.

Come on, City of York Council, you can do it if the will is there.

Geoff Robb, Hunters Close, Dunnington, York.