Opening my window to get a breath of fresh air in the recent heatwave, instead I got a lungful of something more noxious.

Choking in disgust, I hastily slammed the window and remembered the recent article in The Press (“Pollution in York among worst in UK”, May 3).

York is one of the most beautiful cities in the UK, and is justifiably famed. Yet its inhabitants, as well as visiting tourists and racegoers etc, are being steadily poisoned.

Plans to build on the site of garages edging Hob Moor, off Newbury Avenue, will release more pollution from contaminated soil: that site was once industrial, a brick works.

Some brownfield sites just cannot be re-used. Let’s save our city and plant more trees. Let’s also be more strict about traffic in the city centre: buses only, and no cars or delivery lorries to shops during the hours 10am to 4pm.

That’s how it used to be. Let’s do it again.

Patricia Palaeologina,

Windsor Garth, Acomb,York