COUNCIL leader James Alexander last night defended York’s draft Local Plan in the face of hostility from more than 100 residents at a packed public meeting.

Villagers attending the meeting at Heslington Parish Church raised deep concerns about proposals to allocate land alongside the A64 for a new town of 5,500 homes, dubbed Whinthorpe.

They asked how roads into York were going to cope with extra traffic generated by the development, criticised the public consultation organised so far by City of York Council and spoke of their concerns about the impact on an area rich in wildlife.

Residents also asked whether the town would provide affordable homes for York people, rather than serve as a commuter town for Leeds.

Coun Alexander was also criticised for not having visited the proposed site of the new town, and the majority owner of the land, the Halifax estate, was criticised for having suggested to the council that the farmland should be re-developed.

There was a massive show of hands against the Local Plan at the start of the meeting when people were asked to give there views.

Coun Alexander said the Local Plan sought to address a desperate shortage of housing in the city that had pushed prices so high that many people, including himself, could not afford to buy their own home.

He said many could not afford to rent their home either, and were still living at home with their parents or in houses of multiple occupation to share the costs.

The supply of housing needed to increase to slow down the increase in house prices and allow wages to catch up, and the city’s brownfield sites could not possibly provide enough land to meet all the need.

Coun Alexander said he could not visit all the sites proposed for development in the Plan and insisted the council was conducting a fair and comprehensive consultation He said he could understand the concerns about extra traffic, but said steps would be taken to prevent rat-running through Heslington.

A representative from the Halifax estate said he was there primarily as an observer and could not answer detailed questions about the estate’s role in the identification of the land for housing.