The one lane closure on Ouse Bridge proposed by Cllr Peter Kilbane so that there could be a dedicated cycle pedestrian route while flood defence work takes place would mean disruption being inflicted yet again on the people of York.

Might Cllr Kilbane be a cycle courier by any remote chance, as the cycling fraternity would seem to be the only gainers? The city’s fee-paying taxi drivers, buses and others who earn a living doing vital services transporting people and goods to businesses around our city in vehicles most certainly would not gain!

These people never learn, do they?

A huge amount of money was wasted on experts’ consultation fees and subsequent fine repayments etc as a result of the Lendal Bridge fiasco in 2013. Do we really want to go the same failed route again as though we have forgotten somehow? Well, we haven’t.

Former council leader Ian Gillies said such ideas were a waste of money and if we couldn’t solve our own problems it was a bad job. He was so right.

Yes, the flood defence work badly needs doing. But it is hardly rocket science that if you close any road in York, be it temporary or permanent, the traffic problems will divert elsewhere, causing much bigger problems. Why even contemplate doing this yet again?

Peter Boulton,

Orchard Gardens,

Huntington,York

Is it time to give our roads back to cars?

Figures released by the Department of Transport show that cycling slightly decreased between 2002 and 2018, with cycling trips per person per year dropping from 18 to 17. Despite all the public campaigns encouraging cycling and all the designated cycle lanes, which have reduced the road space for other vehicles, people have quite literally voted with their feet.

Is it time for our highways to be fully returned to the modes of transport that actually use them?

Geoff Robb, Hunters Close, Dunnington, York