BRITISH Rail once complained about problems with the wrong type of snow. These days some in York have a problem with the wrong type of hotels, which is why council leader James Alexander called for a strategy to govern the quality and number of bed spaces in the city.

He was right to do so. As a tourist destination, York requires more visitor rooms than most, but it’s also a magnet for hen and stag parties. And the two don’t go hand in hand.

York by day is chocolate box old England, by night it is anything but. Partygoers come here to spend money in the bars and that keeps our evening economy alive. However, they don’t want to shell out on an expensive room for the night.

And there’s the rub for York Hoteliers Association. A plethora of cheap places to stay springing up to satisfy one market at the expense of the other.

Its chairman, Lionel Chatard, says owners are not worried about competition, they just want the situation to be controlled. He goes on to say the strategy was promised two years ago, but while it has been worked on, applications for new hotels keep being approved.

We have some sympathy. This process has dragged on and we are glad to see that it is now coming to fruition.