OVER the past few years the beleaguered residents of York have watched helplessly as, one by one, their local amenities have been taken away from them and replaced by flats.

Pubs, working men's clubs, chip shops, post offices, newsagents, corner shops, community centres, factories, village halls have all fallen victim to the rapacious transformational axe wielded by greedy property developers and our own city council.

No institution is too big or too small, no building too venerable, no service too popular that it can't be wound down, shut down, knocked down and turned into the ubiquitous "luxury executive apartment".

Now it has finally spiralled out of control with the admission that the Barbican swimming pool will never re-open. From a resident's point of view, this is an outright betrayal. A cynic might even suspect that it was the intention all along and that the promise of "re-opening the pool at a later date" was just a smokescreen to keep the heat off until residents drifted off, forgot about it and found other things to do.

There is an addiction problem in this country, even bigger and more damaging than alcohol or tobacco. This addiction to property development profit is causing misery to people and damage to the environment.

Developers, investors, even our council are all addicts. Driven by profit, they are blind to the damage they are doing, they can only see the next fix.

We must do what we can to help these organisations beat their addiction. We need to write to them, tell them what they are doing is wrong. Petition them.

We should support our local shops, frequent our local public houses and use our local facilities as if it were our last chance, because it probably is.

The greed needs to be stopped before it's too late.

Jason Rayner,

Wenlock Terrace,

Fulford Road,

York.

Updated: 11:13 Wednesday, February 15, 2006