EDWARD Waterson suggests streets in The Groves are for the exclusive use of local residents. (Letters, June 26). He is wrong. They are adopted public roads maintained at taxpayers’ expense.

Moreover, Lowther Street and Penley’s Grove/Townsend Street have been legitimate through routes since the area was first developed in the 19th century. I remember my parents driving that way over 60 years ago to visit relatives on the other side of town.

The proposed closures will not solve the traffic problem. If will just move it elsewhere and cause even greater misery and gridlock. It will also cause access and delivery problems within The Groves itself.

The solution lies not in the dogmatic anti-car policy of closing off yet more roads but in a changed mindset to free up traffic flow and allow people to get where they want to be.

No motorist wants to be sat in a traffic queue outside Park Grove School but they are forced there by ever more unnecessary bottlenecks and illogical traffic schemes that have gradually strangled the city.

There needs to be a wholesale reappraisal of the entire citywide traffic system with a positive instead of a negative attitude. Turning off traffic lights, eradicating pinch points and incorporating mini roundabouts should all be looked at.

As for the specific situation in the Groves, it is perfectly clear that a relief road through the Nestle site, open to all drivers, would allow motorists currently driving through The Groves an easy alternative that doesn’t just shift traffic on to other roads already under stress.

Matthew Laverack

Eldon Street, York