THE news that an enhanced commercial development is being sought at the A1237/A59 junction is unfortunately typical of car-dependant developments that spring up at major road intersections.

While these developments are intended to serve passing trade, they can also become a destination, to the extent that vehicle numbers begin to swamp the capacity of the roads that service them.

For many years, when I have felt an urge to go west on my bike, I have ridden to Knaresborough and Harrogate on a quiet route via Tockwith and Little Ribston. This brings me to a descent of Knaresborough’s Grimble Crag Way, and thence the delightful riverside Abbey Road, right into the town. Far better than the A59.

Then the Harrogate southern bypass came along. Within months the first Carpet Warehouse appeared. Now the junction is festooned but has no dedicated infrastructure to help cyclists get safely across into Knaresborough. The bypass is no longer solely a bypass, but a busy link to these commercial sites.

One wonders whether city planners have the legal power to resist such creeping development on our periphery. Our Local Transport Plan has reductions in car dependency at its heart. Will our local development framework underpin this, with measures to limit future retail activity to nominated sites?

Paul Hepworth, Windmill Rise, York.