A TOTAL of 540 housing units is proposed for Osbaldwick. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) claims that 190 of these will be affordable (Letters, October 30). Why is this proportion of affordable units (35 per cent of the total) so low?

Most of the site is owned by the council on behalf of the citizens of York, so it can dictate whatever terms it thinks are appropriate. The council is working towards a 50 per cent proportion of affordable units on new sites brought forward by private developers. This has been achieved, and even exceeded, elsewhere.

The even larger developer-led Germany Beck proposal will provide only 15 per cent affordable housing units. This miserable allocation was apparently agreed before the area came under Greater York, and is now apparently non-negotiable.

At Osbaldwick, where land acquisition costs are not an issue, and environmental issues are so significant, this proportion should be at least 75 per cent to 80 per cent in compensation if the council and JRF hope to win over the opponents of the scheme.

While there is certainly a strong case to be made that neither of these developments is necessary, the least one should expect of the council is that on its own site, where it has overall control, the number of affordable units provided should be as high as possible. This is unlikely to be the case.

The present council appears to be locked into an agreement with JRF, not of its own making, from which it is proving difficult to extricate itself.

I suggest it needs to try harder.

Philip Crowe,

Clifton, York.

Updated: 09:17 Wednesday, November 03, 2004