Predictably the Council Leader failed to give a convincing response when tackled at the last Council meeting about the “subsidy” he is considering making to the stalled Castle/Piccadilly development.

He was asked by the LibDem Leader, “On Castle/Piccadilly, would the Leader confirm precisely what form of “subsidy” he is considering making to the private sector to underwrite this project and would he say how such a subsidy could legally be made given EU procedural restrictions that exist?”

The response was that the negotiations were confidential and the results wouldn’t be revealed until they were concluded!

Worrying given that a lot of time and money can be wasted pursuing policies which are either impractical or illegal (or both).

It really is time to come clean on what deal is being talked about? If taxpayers are to be asked to foot the bill then transparency is essential at all stages of any negotiation.

The Leader displayed similar lack of candour when asked how he intended to ensure that York receives a fair share of the resources that the Government has made available for investment by the Leeds City Region Amalgamated Authority, how he intended to involve the people of York in the development of policy for the Authority and whether he would indicate whether he was planning to introduce a supplementary levy on the City’s Council Taxpayers to assist in funding the Authority’s work?”

The response was effectively that he had no idea how to measure the benefit that York residents would derive other than via a general improvement in “Gross Value Add”.

There will be no consultation with residents, the governance structure of the new joint authority remains unclear and he failed to rule out a surcharge on York Council Taxpayers to fund the new organisation!