The burst water main near York Hospital clearly demonstrates the failure of York’s traffic planners.

In their rush to create ever more bottlenecks and constraints on motorists the planners have no contingency for events such as this, with the inevitable consequence of chaos whenever there is a traffic hold up.

Once upon a time if a road was suddenly blocked for whatever reason - accident, broken down lorry, collapsed sewer, burst pipe or whatever - it was possible to bypass the blockage on alternative routes and the city would still function.

Not any more. The slightest hiccup and it all grinds to a miserable halt thanks to the illogical twisted thinking of those who should be ensuring that traffic can get where it needs to go, rather than inventing ever more ways to hold it up.

Matthew Laverack, Architect Lord Mayors Walk, York