THE leader of the city council is to head to Brussels to try to save one of the York’s biggest developments.

Coun Andrew Waller is due to travel to the Belgian capital within the next month to meet European Commission officials, as the future of the Derwenthorpe housing scheme hangs in the balance.

As previously reported in The Press, the Commission is unhappy that the city council did not carry out a tendering process before allocating the land at Osbaldwick to Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT), and has threatened to take the British Government to the European Court of Justice over the matter.

Yorkshire and Humberside MEP Diana Wallis and the city’s energy champion Christian Vassie have both called on Coun Waller to go to Brussels.

He said yesterday: “Arrangements are being made for me to go out there, over the next month. There are a number of people to get around the table but, for me, it is a priority.”

He said council officials would also make the trip.

Coun Vassie said Derwenthorpe, a 540-home model village, was an example of affordable and environmentally-sustainable housing.

He said: “This development is setting out to do all the things that Liberal Democrats wish to see happen to tackle social needs and climate change.

“The EU is also committed to improving social housing and tackling the serious environmental challenges we face.

“The council must therefore do all in its power to ensure that the various departments of the EU Commission all understand both the city’s commitment to abiding by procurement legislation and the real importance of the Derwenthorpe scheme to the city, the region and beyond.”

The Commission said in June that the British Government now accepted that a tender process should have been carried out, but said no measures had been introduced to resolve the matter and said it wanted an explanation.

The council has already spent £45,000 on legal advice over the case.