I AM angry at the suggestion from some York councillors that the green belt is under threat from immigration. Will Cllrs Warters (Independent) and Cllr Ayre (Lib-Dem) be campaigning to save the green belt by banning immigration?

The truth on the green belt is very different. It is normal economic growth and the wish of many 20 to 34-year-old adults to stop living in their parents’ spare rooms that is driving York’s future housing need. Without economic growth, York will decline and unemployment will rise. Is that what Cllrs Ayre and Warters want?

I place myself in the immigrant category. I don’t come from York. I was born in Edinburgh and my working life was nomadic, serving Queen and Country.

I came to York to fill a professional aircraft engineering appointment, working for a Spanish company. Nobody who had spent all their life in York could have qualified to do my job.

Please, can we get real about the contribution of people from outside York and start being honest about the need for some development on York’s green belt.

Cllr Joe Watt, Conservative member for Skelton, Rawcliffe & Clifton Without, City of York Council, Skelton, York.