FOLLOWING Mrs Ross' letter (November 9), the council has carried out a study of the capacity for further shopping in York, which will be taken into account in dealing with the Coppergate development. A study of any impact of the development on the city centre, together with an overall retail study for York, has already been made available for public inspection and this was advertised as part of the public consultation process. The retail assessment submitted by Land Securities for Coppergate is also being checked independently.

There is no proposed new car park for Piccadilly, either as part of the parks proposal or any other proposal, with the exception of the Land Securities planning application for comprehensive development. The presumption that a developer will give the council a large area of land on Piccadilly, build a car park at considerable cost and then let the council take the year-on-year income from that car park to cover the income loss from the Castle car park is simply not realistic.

The park proposal by York Tomorrow simply proposes doing away with the Castle car park completely and has no proposals to develop or to replace the car park elsewhere. In relation to the financial connections between the council and Land Securities, these matters will be considered independently of the planning process.

I would remind Mrs Ross that the income from the car park is public money which pays for other council services and as such the council has to ensure that it gets the best consideration out of any transaction with a developer. The financial proposal with Land Securities is designed to protect that financial interest and hence the public services which that income pays for.

Roy Templeman,

Directorate of Environment & Development Services,

City of York Council,

St Leonard's Place,

York.