IN RESPONSE to the objectors’ claims reported in The Press of November 18, we welcome debate about our proposals for the Community Stadium and the enabling retail development, but it’s important this is informed by facts.

The offer includes, in Marks and Spencer and John Lewis, two large department stores that require sales space which is not available in York City centre.

Our own retail impact assessment has found the development would deliver an annual £12 million (gross value added) boost to the city’s economy from day one and create 1,000 new jobs on site.

The suggestion that Marks and Spencer is closing its Coppergate store because of the stadium development is not true. M&S already planned its closure prior to the stadium proposals coming forward, as its lease expires in 2013.

M&S has signalled its commitment to the city centre by announcing a significant investment to modernise the Parliament Street store, before the new Monks Cross store opens.

Currently there is 450,000 sq ft of retail requirements for the city centre. There is no reason why York cannot have a Community Stadium adjoining the UK’s best retailers, as well as a first-class retail development at Castle Piccadilly.

Richard France, Director, Oakgate (Monks Cross) Ltd.

• ALTHOUGH I live nearer to Leeds than to York, it is York I love and to which I gravitate. I am convinced the Monks Cross II project will help to suck the life out of the historic heart of York.

These plans are based on the idea that we are all going to continue to consume more and more for ever and a day, and that therefore there will be enough trade for both the enlarged Monks Cross and the City centre.

We cannot listen to any discussion of the current economic and financial crisis for more than about 30 seconds before we hear of the absolute necessity for everlasting economic growth.

Yet this is impossible. We live on a limited planet whose climate, resources and life-support systems are already groaning under the weight of enormous human populations and increasing consumption per head.

If Monks Cross II retail development comes about then either it or the centre of York will lose out. If Monks Cross wins then we shall have not only a blighted city centre but also an addition to the plague of motor traffic from which York already suffers, David Corry.

Aberford, Leeds.

• I AM shocked to see a group has been set up calling itself Campaign for York. I would like to remind them that they do not speak for York.

How dare they use our proud city’s heritage to promote their own vested interests. May I suggest they instead use the following name: “The Campaign for people with a vested interest in ensuring the residents of this City never get anything”?

That would be a fitting title for their aims. Only in York could we campaign against a community asset and do so through a campaign ‘for York’.

The planned stadium is something for the residents; so please do not stand in the way of something for us. We’ve lost swimming pools, we almost lost the Barbican and we almost lost car parking. Do not cause us to lose our only professional sports team in this great city.

We should not lose this fantastic opportunity. There have been a lot of lies spread about the new development. It is, after all is said and done, only two more shops. These will not ‘kill’ the city centre.

David Nichols, Gate Helmsley, York.

• I WOULD love chief executive Kersten England, council leader Coun James Alexander, and Coun David Merrett, Cabinet Member for Strategy, to each give an honest answer to the question: “If the new community stadium was not part of the proposed retail development at Monks Cross, would City of York Council be considering such a scheme in any shape or form?”

The A1237 ring road can’t cope with traffic levels as it is. The additional journeys required to make such a large retail development viable and to get the predicted number of workers to site would be the last nail in the road’s coffin. This is before we consider the extra traffic generated on match days.

I do want to see York City FC secure a new permanent ground, but not in a location that will result in gridlock for the northern part of the city. The idea of getting a developer to fund a new stadium by granting planning permission they would otherwise not get is appealing, but there is a definite line between pragmatism and abandoning your principles. If the answer to my question is ‘no’ and the council goes ahead with the Monks Cross development, they will have crossed this line.

Trevor Richardson, Bramble Dene, York.