NIGEL Ingram's "Thinking Green" letter (October 2) makes interesting if not ironic reading for residents affected by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's proposed Derwenthorpe development.

He says they intend to provide acres of "green" areas and undertake extensive tree planting. What he fails to explain is that in the process of providing these so-called amenities, JRF and City of York Council will in effect be destroying "amenities" that already exist in abundance; trees, hedgerows, fauna and flora, ancient ridge and furrow meadows and wildlife habitats of many creatures.

I would suggest to Mr Ingram that if he seriously expects the JRF in particular to be seen as a "thinking green" organisation then they should be looking to build on previously developed, brownfield sites in and around the city of which there are plenty.

Don Spaven,

Meadlands, York.

Updated: 11:25 Wednesday, October 06, 2004