It is noteworthy that Paul Hepworth quotes the 1963 Buchanan Report in support of his cycling Nirvana (Retailers make too much of role of car, Letters, January 3). That is the year Clifton Bridge was opened to provide a much needed additional river crossing in an expanding city.

But, according to Mr Hepworth’s now familiar and often repeated mantra of ‘induced traffic’ this road crossing should never have been built because it just ‘sucked in more cars’.

If Mr Hepworth’s logic is accepted then the outer bypass of 1976, all road extensions and the entire motorway network should never have been constructed for the same reason - motorists will drive on them.

This is a bit like saying we shouldn’t build any more houses because people will want to live in them; or erect new hospitals because the sick and injured will expect to be treated. It is nonsense. The population is increasing and the construction of new roads is as essential as other infrastructure to serve that increasing population.

Much of the traffic congestion we suffer is self inflicted by negative traffic planners who deliberately create bottlenecks when they should be doing the opposite.

Cycling is a commendable and useful form of transport that should be encouraged and supported, but the idea it will suit everyone in every circumstance is as daft as believing the absence of reasonably-priced city centre parking has nothing to do with the steady decline of retailing in York city centre.

Matthew Laverack,

Lord Mayors Walk, York

Caring communities are what we need

The Commons Library Briefing (December 2018) estimates that between 240,000 and 340,000 new houses will need to be built each year to meet the country’s current accommodation needs. However, the continued expansion of building programmes, without adequate growth in industry and employment, will simply create dorma-towns or pockets of deprivation.

Town planning needs to consider a sense of community, that is to say, people need to be drawn together for some common purpose and an economic heartbeat is required for such a community to thrive.

The death of community or the construction of heartless and unfocused building schemes has contributed to the fact that more than nine million people in this country express continuous feelings of loneliness.

We desperately need more houses, but more importantly, we need more communities. Furthermore, we need communities which care.

I read with interest the government’s Green Paper on Social Housing (‘A New Deal for Social Housing’, August 2018) but noted that whilst measures to ensure more effective systems of complaint were frequently mentioned and strategies to help people ‘buy’ their houses were listed, there was not one word written about how to prevent homelessness or how to support individuals with disabilities to access suitable accommodation.

Nor was there any reflection that, along with houses, we need communities with school, workplaces, local and accessible health services and all the things that make a thriving community.

Ian Wilson,

Member of the Socialist Labour Party,

White Street, Selby