A VISION for York was presented in the 1960s in Lord Esher’s report where he expressed that “the commercial heart of York should remain alive and able to compete and for its centre to be a highly attractive place to live and to enhance York’s historic character”.

For York to be viable it needs to attract businesses to ensure its heart and life continue to beat. This historic city should be an attractive place for people to live or to visit, and be able to change and develop.

However, only by appropriate concern for conservation can York have a vibrant future.

Piccadilly remains forgotten, unloved and decaying and yet we could bring life and investment to this wasteland. A quality department store such as John Lewis near to the centre of York could do this. No one wants York to remain fixed in time, but it is about scale, quality and consideration to its importance as an historic city. The sports ground facility ‘offer’ clouds the picture. It is time to have joined-up development that considers carefully York’s historic city centre as well as its outskirts at Monks Cross, and to allocate what is most appropriate to each without causing damage to the other.

Jocelyn Hayes, Stockton Lane, York.