The Mount School have abundant playing field space and if they wish to develop redundant land off Towton Avenue that is their prerogative.

The extraction of £47,000 from The Mount School for a new playing field at Tadcaster Road is an example of planning blackmail (Homes on playing field at school get go-ahead, March 25).

The argument by local residents that approving residential development would result in the loss of playing fields in the area is fundamentally flawed because the land in question is privately owned and third parties have never had any legal rights to beneficial use of it.

Consequently, demanding that the school developers provide funding for a publicly-accessed playing field elsewhere is unfair.

The provision of public playing fields in the area is a public one and the burden of providing it should not be imposed on one single private owner.

Matthew Laverack,

Lord Mayors Walk, York