I WRITE in response to Coun Simpson-Laing's letter about housing for the people of York (June 6).

A few years ago the Labour council she belongs to had a plan to build affordable housing on St Mary's car park. This was dropped because of opposition to the closure of the car park.

They also voted against the previous scheme for Coppergate II, which had provision for some affordable housing.

The council is now paying huge sums of taxpayers' money to QCs to force a scheme on the city which includes no affordable housing at all.

The council also plans to close several other car parks, but argues against the closure of the one at Clifford's Tower.

The council's actions prove her assertions are wrong, and that they are inconsistent about housing and parking policy.

She then goes on to blame the Tory government for weaknesses in the planning system. Yet it is her party that has been in power for the past five years. If the planning process is so bad why haven't they changed it?

Dave Berkeley,

Tower Place, York.

...COUNCILLOR Tracey Simpson-Laing's letter about house prices raises a number of questions that, as the planning and transport spokesperson for City of York Council, I hope she can answer through your columns.

While she may like to pretend that party group policy doesn't influence how councillors vote in a planning committee, why was York council so keen to promote certain developments such as Coppergate II, even before the committee had discussed it?

What is York Labour group's view on Government plans to tip the planning laws further in favour of developers, and remove the opportunity for public scrutiny of controversial decisions already provided by the public inquiry system?

Why doesn't York council employ enough planners to police existing planning laws, develop planning briefs and negotiate higher-quality schemes?

York council has a significant role to play in developing a vision for the city we shall leave for our children and future visitors.

That's what we want to hear from our council spokesperson for planning and transport, not excuses about her party's national policy.

Andy D'Agorne,

York Green Party,

Broadway West, York.

...PLANNING officers face a daunting, and thankless, task trying to reconcile residents' belief in natural justice with developers' reliance on the letter of the law.

There is more than a little truth in the complaint that "planners have their hands tied." On the other hand, I could cite the case of a millionaire developer being excused, on compassionate grounds (poor chap!), the requirement to build affordable homes on his land.

And the case of a developer being refused permission to build low-cost homes on a brown-field site of park-land held in trust for the people of York being gifted to yet another developer, and of village boundaries being stretched to include nearby green belt land within its designated development area.

None of these decisions was a requirement of planning law. If this is how planners behave with hands tied, what might they not do, I wonder, if their bonds were loosened ever so slightly?

William Dixon Smith,

Welland Rise, Acomb,

York.

Updated: 10:22 Tuesday, June 11, 2002