YORK council could find itself being dragged through an expensive public inquiry because it has taken so long to make a decision on a planning application to redevelop the former British Sugar site.

British Sugar itself is appealing against the council’s “non-determination” of an application to build more than 1,100 homes on the former factory site off Boroughbridge Road - an appeal which could ultimately result in an inquiry. The proposals have been stuck in the planning process since 2014.

We very much hope it doesn’t come to an inquiry. Quite apart from the fact that this could end up costing the York council tax payer a great deal of money, it also risks making the whole process drag on longer and longer.

The 1,000-plus homes envisaged for that site are desperately needed. They could go some way towards helping solve York’s acute housing shortage. So we, like British Sugar, would like to see progress.

But even if planning permission were to be granted tomorrow, the land will still need to be decontaminated before any building work can begin. That in itself is a process that could take several years.

The site has lain largely empty and derelict since 2008. British Sugar has had nine years already in which to begin the process of decontamination, in other words - and has not done so.

We simply don’t know whether concerns about contamination and the way it will be dealt with have contributed to the length of time the council has taken to determine this application.

But it does seem a bit rich of British Sugar to accuse the council of dragging its heels when it has done exactly the same thing.