I was shocked to read in the York Press last month that The Reading Café in Rowntrees Park is to close for several months while building work is carried out to convert the upper floors of The Lodge into a holiday let (York reading café to close for refit, The Press, October 10). The Reading Café and Library is a well used community resource and will be greatly missed.

Cllr Nigel Ayre says the conversion of the lodge will ‘provide long term investment potential to support the future of Rowntree Park’ . But I wonder how much the development will cost and how many years it will be until the park sees any financial benefit?

There seems to have been very limited consultation with local people on the change of use of the lodge, which became vacant after the paid gardener was made redundant by the council. Is it right that the council are developing the building as a commercial holiday let? It seems a far cry from the vision of Joseph Rowntree who gifted Rowntree Park to local people as a memorial to those who died and suffered in The Great War. Are the council plans to build a holiday home not undermining the very nature of Rowntree Park as a recreational green space for our local community?

Jan Kingdom,

Trafalgar Street, York