WHAT a pity you didn't expand your item on Spurriergate Goes Modern (August 31) to include an illustration of the latest new building the City Centre Planning Committee has just seen fit to approve on our behalf.

I am sure people would like to see what it is like and what is to replace the admittedly dingy 'utilitarian' shops on the site at present.

But I wonder whether we really think this new building is going to fit well into this part of the city centre. Is it not, as your correspondent said in his letter in the same day's Press, commenting on the Mawson's Yard development, that location - or context - is a fundamental consideration for any new development? Do we really think this building is appropriate for a site across the road from the medieval St Michael's Church, Spurriergate? It would be happier, I think, at Monk's Cross.

If we don't like the planning decisions being taken on our behalf, we should say so, loud and clear. Perhaps in the end we may be listened to.

N A Sinclair,

Norfolk Street,

Bishopthorpe Road, York.

...AS objections to the shiny metallic roof panels of Walmgate's Mawson's Court have been met with a suggestion from the council's spokesperson to "consider the scheme in the context of the planned redevelopment of other parts of Piccadilly", perhaps we should be told how many thousands of square feet of metallic roofing are to cover the proposed Coppergate Riverside scheme?

The plans indicate 'zinc' deck roofs with metal edging and fascias at the top of the walls - an odd response to the design brief's suggestion that "the design might need to reflect the subtle roofspaces of the Castle Museum and Crown Court".

This metallic roofscape, whose ribbed contour seems very similar to Mawson Court's, begins less than 30 yards from the mound of Clifford's Tower. One hopes that those who have approved Coppergate Riverside are familiar with the actual material, its colour and patination, and are satisfied that there is no danger of an alien 'industrial' material interposing a barrier to the appreciation from the tower of York's 'magical' roofscape.

Keith Daggett,

Ouse Lea, York.

Updated: 10:19 Wednesday, September 05, 2001