PAUL HEPWORTH’S response to my letter on housing implies nothing can be done because of law (Letters, June 20).

We recently re-elected two lawmakers for our city; the purpose of my writing is to get citizens to petition them to do something about it when the current rules are failing us.

Any true leader changes the rules instead of hiding behind them and gets things moving.

Take the development by York St John in Windmill Lane for example; there’s no way to stop a university becoming a profit-making property developer - so be it.

That does not mean we stand by and allow it unopposed.

Were I in government, I would give them a final chance to reconsider before they act against the wishes of the local people.

Should they fail to put community before profit I would then cut their funding by the equivalent sum they bank from selling that green space on.

We could also afford to get the important roads fixed if we stop the wasteful spending on other trivial areas such as putting a cycle track on the A64 between the college and Grimston Bar, which nobody is mad enough to actually use.

Such investment is not futile, it is necessary.

Build roads, halt the population growth and you ease the congestion.

Getting traffic moving is fundamental for all of us. Deliveroo can run a business on pedal power alone, most of the economy cannot.

Dr Scott Marmion, Woodthorpe, York