RARELY has City of York Council produced a more fatuous questionnaire than the one being circulated to elicit support for its new Millennium cycle route.

Other than to justify the £4 million spent on the Millennium Bridge, pretty though it is, do we really need a dedicated cycle route as well?

What was really needed at this point was a road bridge and what a real boon to York that would have been.

Much of the proposed cycle route already exists through South Bank's streets, albeit narrowed down by parked cars to a single carriageway.

The controversial issue is the outrageous proposal to build hard surface cycleways on Knavesmire and across Little Knavesmire, not even mentioned in the six question survey.

Instead, we are asked pointless questions such as: "Do you think cycle routes are a good idea?" One might as well ask the same about fresh air for all the relevance that offers.

There may be a case for some localised access improvements for schools in the Hob Moor area, but that in no way justifies desecrating Knavesmire with Tarmac cycleways.

Most publicly-funded projects cursed with the dreaded Millennium prefix have proved disastrous white elephants.

At a time when the council has increased taxation by more than twice the rate of inflation, can they not better use the money to repair the many potholes and broken pavements which we cyclists and pedestrians are obliged to endure?

Ken Beavan,

Albemarle Road, York.

Updated: 10:28 Friday, April 27, 2001