A PARISH council has made a last-minute call for a public inquiry into York's controversial Derwenthorpe scheme, after raising new worries over construction traffic.
Osbaldwick Parish Council claims new evidence has emerged that roads in Osbaldwick - intended to serve as an access route for diggers and lorries to the 540-home development - are not strong enough to cope.
It says that when trenches were dug in Osbaldwick Village and Murton Way earlier this summer to lay additional electricity cables, councillors discovered the road only consisted of a thin surface without a properly layered road structure underneath.
It claims in a letter to the Government office that this meant there would be structural cracking and rutting when heavy construction traffic went over it.
It says another proposed access route into the site, via Fifth Avenue, has still not been agreed with residents, who owned the end of the cul-de-sac, and that currently left only one access available through Osbaldwick village, for an estimated 140 vehicles per day.
It claims there would be a minimum of six years of construction traffic before the development was complete. "These roads are also completely unsuited to handle almost a decade of HGV construction traffic," it says, adding that it feels this matter, along with many others, could only be addressed by a public inquiry.
City of York Council decided early this year it was "minded to approve" the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Derwenthorpe scheme, but then - because most of the land is owned by the authority - had to refer the matter to the Secretary of State.
The Evening Press reported last week that the Minister had still not decided whether or not to call it in and order an inquiry.
A Government spokeswoman said today that while it was several months since most of the documentation had been submitted to the Government, it was still not too late for the parish council's late submission to be taken into consideration.
A Joseph Rowntree Foundation spokesman was unavailable for comment.
Updated: 11:10 Tuesday, August 30, 2005
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