Barbican Road residents and those who walk along the city walls near York’s Barbican will have been interested to read (Review into site options, April 27) that the Persimmon-owned site which secured planning consent for 187 apartments in 2013 might be developed at long last.

As a major locally-based housebuilder, it is shocking that despite a housing crisis and development consents dating back 15 years, the company has left the site abandoned all this time. Even past ward councillors’ suggestions of tidying it up for the benefit of wildlife and ‘meanwhile uses’ have been rebuffed.

The company statement says that the site ‘has been removed from the market as we review various options and inquiries’. It would be a refreshing change after all this time if the owners would talk to local residents and their elected representatives before bringing forward urgent plans to see this prominent central site brought back into use, for the benefit of the city and those desperate for a home in York.

If they still have no immediate plans, perhaps it could be handed back to City of York Council to build the affordable houses we need?

Cllr Andy D’Agorne, Fishergate ward councillor, Broadway West, York