HAVING spent several months worrying about Joseph Rowntree Foundation's plans for the Derwenthorpe development at Osbaldwick I was relieved to hear this week that the foundation has submitted revised plans.
Excited by news that JRF would be providing an alternative area of meadowland elsewhere to compensate for the loss of the Derwenthorpe site and would be setting aside an area of land for great crested newts, I eagerly studied the plans. While JRF plan to develop the 22 hectares of meadowland at Osbaldwick, resulting in the loss of most of the meadows and abundant wildlife, they will set aside a six-hectare field at New Earswick to convert to meadowland.
It is not enough, and little use to the residents of Osbaldwick, but at least it is a step in the right direction, I thought.
How misplaced my trust was, because the planning department advises that this was not an act of kindness, charity, or respect for the destruction and loss of wildlife at Osbaldwick.
The foundation is just fulfilling its legal obligations to provide "mitigation and compensation" for the loss of important wildlflower meadows at Osbaldwick. Am I alone in feeling cheated and betrayed?
Adrian Wilson,
Grasmere Drive, York.
Updated: 10:45 Saturday, September 11, 2004
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