REGARDING the proposed closure of St Leonard's Place, firstly, I wish to state that I have never owned or driven a car, also that I lived in York from 1974 to 1990, when I cycled to work.

There were no cycle lanes and this was before it became trendy to cycle. However, I believe that it would be lunacy to close St Leonard's to cars. It seems that buses and taxis and cyclists will still be allowed to us it. Hence it will not be traffic free.

I have never been able to understand the mentality of people such as Coun D'Agorne and Anna Semlyen. I don't want cafes and specialist stores. I want the butcher's shops, greengrocers and bakers and so forth that have now all moved to Clifton Moor and Monks Cross.

In Oxford, a Green Party council was elected in 2000. They have excluded every car from the city centre, as a result any remaining small businesses have gone to the wall. All you find in Oxford city centre are pubs, burger bars, cafes, book shops and gift shops. There are four bus companies and the city centre is often grid-locked with buses.

I am now a fully-fledged pedestrian. I walk into town four or five times a week. Most cyclists I come across are lawbreakers. They ride on pavements, on the Stray, in pedestrian areas, and in the Valley Gardens. They are ignorant, arrogant, selfish and abusive.

On a recent visit to York, I had to move off the pavement for several cyclists, some in pairs, even though cycle lanes were marked on both sides of the road.

K S Chapman,

South Drive,

Harrogate.

Updated: 09:37 Monday, December 29, 2003