While pleased to see York shortlisted for the headquarters of Great British Railways, I am anxious about our strategy going into the final phase.

The bid has no unity across York’s finely balanced political representation with separate, inconsistent messaging from the Liberal-Green council and from our city’s Labour and Tory MPs.

I’m also conscious that the National Railway Museum’s (NRM) form locally makes their level of involvement a liability.

Their insistence that thousands of residents losing their only direct and always available route to the city centre is, somehow, the only way for their own expansion to happen will create a breakdown in community relations for a generation. Those running the bid should ensure that attempts by the NRM to piggy-back onto it are managed with healthy distance.

Each of these issues need addressing as we are up against strong competition.

A. Williams, Garfield Terrace, York