A LEADING campaigner against Derwenthorpe has formally requested the Audit Commission to investigate City of York Council's involvement in the massive development.

At the same time a Green councillor has asked the Government to order a public inquiry into the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's scheme for a 540-home model village on York's eastern outskirts.

The council's planning committee recently gave the scheme its backing, but Coun Andy D'Agorne says that as links between the foundation and the authority are "significant" he believes it is important for local residents' concerns to be independently examined.

"The issues of traffic, flooding and biodiversity are finely balanced when set against the benefits, and I believe an independent inspector would give assurance that all the consequences had been given full consideration before any final approval," he said.

The call for an Audit Commission probe has come from Adrian Wilson, of Temple Avenue - one of the proposed access roads into the Derwenthorpe site.

He said he had asked it to investigate whether the council had acted properly in the way it was seeking to dispose of the site.

"I have also written to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and asked them to block the disposal of the site until such time as the Audit Commission has investigated the matter," he said.

He said he had argued that the site was one of the largest assets that the council owned, potentially worth tens of millions of pounds, and it was not acceptable that such assets had not been put out to public tender. He had also asked whether the council should have entered into an agreement with the foundation, and whether such an agreement was legal, and argued that as the council would face financial penalties if the scheme did not go ahead, this had effectively obliged it to grant planning permission.

A council spokeswoman said today that the decision to work in partnership with the foundation had been taken by the authority in June 1999, and the foundation was a valued "developer partner". It had local and national standing and was also able to contribute from its own resources to add value to the project.

"It has always been the intention that by working with one main registered social landlord, we would achieve the aspirations for a cohesive and sustainable community rather than seeking to develop the land in a piecemeal fashion, as has been done in other parts of the city," she said.

"There is a well-established process which local authorities go through to sell assets at less than market value, and the council has every intention of ensuring that it complies with Government guidelines on the disposal of assets."

Updated: 10:57 Friday, February 18, 2005