COUNCILLOR Andy d’Agorne is right to raise the alarm (The Press, October 9) about the proposal to create 14 extra moorings for York Motor Yacht Club using public recreational land on the riverside south of the Millennium Bridge.

The club maintains there is no “designated riverside footpath” along the stretch. But I have been walking it regularly for 30 years, always meeting numbers of walkers, with or without dogs. It is a popular usage footpath of long standing, and in effect an informal continuation of New Walk.

Andy d’Agorne is also right about the wildlife. Kingfishers occur frequently along this stretch of the river, sand martins have nested, and the trees which are supposedly in poor condition are used by over twenty bird species, including treecreepers and redpolls, nesting warblers in summer, and wintering thrushes.

These are not rarities, but like so many species they are suffering from the loss of such habitats as this stretch of riverside vegetation.

All this for the sake of 14 motor cruisers? The council would be highly irresponsible to permit such damage.

Peter Hollindale, Grange Garth, Fulford Road, York.