YORK people have long memories. They won’t have forgotten the way British Sugar threw hundreds of people out of work and put many more farmers’ livelihoods at risk when it decided to close its sugar refining plant in York just over ten years ago.

There was a bitter feeling in the city then that the company wanted to cash in on the value of its central York site. The Press revealed that the 100-acre York site was, at an estimated value of £80 million in 2006, more than twice as valuable as the company’s nearest rival site in Newark, despite only being half the size.

Given the value of that site, it seems pretty rich for the company to now be claiming that it cannot afford to build any affordable homes there.

It has emerged that British Sugar’s refusal to include any affordable homes - available for rent or to buy at a discounted price - in its plans for the site is one reason those plans have been so long delayed.

It has also failed to satisfy council planners over community facilities, open space, new schools, roads and infrastructure.

The impression given is that this is a company which wants to squeeze the maximum possible profit out of this site with little thought for the needs of people who live in York. That will be no surprise to those who remember the way the company re-opened the factory for a few days in 2007 months after it had been closed so it could lodge a bid for £60 million of compensation from the European Union for scaling back sugar production in the UK.

York council is absolutely right to insist that this crucial site be developed properly. British Sugar must not be allowed to bully the authority.