WHILST I wholeheartedly agree with John McDonnell’s suggestion that a future Labour Government will clamp down on PFI initiative schemes I don’t understand what he means by “bringing them in house”. They still have to be repaid unless he plans to default on the Government’s promises.

As Mr McDonnell quite rightly says, these schemes are costing the taxpayer billions of pounds in lost revenue through extortionate interest payments and he goes on to say that the schemes were introduced by the then Conservative Prime Minister John Major in 1992.

This is true but what Mr McDonnell fails to mention is that they were used sparingly until Labour came to power in 1997. Gordon Brown as Chancellor then went to town using these schemes to fund his so called economic miracle, building schools, hospitals, social housing schemes, army barracks etc.

Because of the nature of PFI schemes each building will end up costing the taxpayer in the region of 15 times more than the cost if they had simply been paid for at the time. However, this latter method would have meant he wouldn’t have been able to use smoke and mirrors to create the myth that he had abolished boom and bust.

The PFI schemes were a sensible alternative until Labour turned them into a monstrous creation through vastly excessive use, thus enabling them to fool the electorate. John McDonnell must know this, although he at least recognises the damage they are doing to our budget deficit. It is simply too much to expect him to lay the blame at the feet of the last Labour government.

Tony Taylor, Grassholme, Woodthorpe, York

Traffic dominance in city must be reduced

I CAN reassure Barbara Pettitt (Letters September 19) that work on Blue Bridge is due to take place in the next few weeks.

Unfortunately this will mean its closure for up to three weeks in October, forcing less confident cyclists to have to walk between Mecca Bingo and Fishergate Bar to reach the city centre. (A longer alternative would be over Millennium Bridge, along Terry Avenue).

Through the mycastlegateway consultations, I hope serious thought can be given to creating attractive “flood proof ” walking and cycling routes. We need to significantly reduce traffic dominance and speeds between Tower Street and Fishergate School/The Barbican.

Opening up direct access into and from Piccadilly (especially for buses) and from Tower Street on to Skeldergate Bridge could allow for a review of the need for the gyratory and its vast expanses of tarmac. This could allow space for a Dutch-style two-way cycle link between Fishergate Bar, Kent Street and Blue Bridge Lane, connecting city centre, orbital and riverside routes.

Any replacement for Castle car park should be on the Piccadilly side of the Foss (linked to Clifford’s Tower by pedestrian bridge), allowing “un-dualling” of Tower St to “reunite” Tower Gardens with the Castle area.

Cllr Andy D’Agorne, Fishergate ward councillor, Green Party, Broadway West, York