John Norris

Candidate for Guildhall Ward

John is a retired civil servant and trade union official. He lives in Bishophill, just inside the City Walls. He says:

"I am glad that we have chosen to campaign to keep York special.

"The key issue in keeping York special is development. We are a mediaeval city, and still have much of the mediaeval street plan. We should focus on appropriate scale development in the city. We should recognise that the planned growth will bring more traffic and contribute to global warming.

"If the Liberal Democrats and Labour are allowed, they will wreck some of the very things that make our city special.

"It is a great pity that the City Council they currently dominate allows developers to ride rough-shod over local people, and even co-operates in the process. Decisions which will be made now to build new shopping centres, like that at Coppergate around the Eye of York, will be with us for the rest of our lives, and probably our children's. The recent decision to develop Arc Light in Union Terrace was imposed despite local opposition. I hope we can stop such impositions, and listen first to local people - not developers, even if they are our own City Council!

"I think some of our Council would be better employed first in dealing with the rats in parts of Guildhall. Council tax payers cannot get the Council to deal successfully with the problem of rats tearing and feeding off the flimsy bags they supply to contain household rubbish. The rats are a hazard particularly to children."