YORK’S council leader is to be commended for supporting the Federation of Small Businesses, but he needs to back up his words with positive action.

He can do nothing about access to finance, export markets or National Insurance contributions; but he can do something about reducing regulations – especially on house-building, which is the key to economic recovery.

In York we still have a ridiculous 50 per cent affordable housing contribution on sites of just two dwellings outside the main urban area and the council is still proposing in the Local Development Framework to impose affordable targets throughout the city on all sites other than single dwellings.

This will kill off the last few small builders still operating.

If James Alexander genuinely wants to help small businesses he should immediately announce a universal threshold of ten dwellings to all housing schemes now and in future, in order that small local homebuilders might just have a chance of survival.

John Jones, Ex house-builder, Sand Hutton, York.