YOUR recent report on farmer Chris Hawkswell and his wife, Sally, of Lime Tree Farm, Heslington, makes ugly reading.

It is possible that this otherwise happy family would readily have accepted the threatened loss of their land had it been demonstrated to them and, indeed, to the local community, that these broad acres were to be developed for academic and research purposes, as befits the role of a university.

Sadly, this is far from being the case and the university authorities have shown themselves to be inept and stubbornly unimaginative in the husbandry of their present campus while being not a little economical with "la verite" by publicly stating their future intentions for the massive land grab being plotted.

The fact that the university has been outstandingly successful academically and commercially does not confer upon it the right to ride roughshod over the community in which it stands, nor to wantonly destroy the green belt which contributes equally to the character of the City of York.

Mark Wade,

Shipton Road, York.

Updated: 09:49 Tuesday, April 05, 2005