THE view of The Press seems to be that the partial funding of the Access York bid is a setback for the city. I feel that this is not the case.

I have recently spent quite a bit of time in a number of South Yorkshire towns where a great deal of money has been spent on road upgrades, roundabouts, and bypasses.

Such intensive road building has the effect of creating places in which no one in their right mind will dream of walking or using a bike. The shortest trip then becomes only possible or pleasant by car, and the problems of congestion become worse.

Luckily in York, we have not yet destroyed the human scale infrastructure which makes human-powered travel possible and pleasant.

Let us be very careful in what road “improvements” we decide on.

By speeding yet more traffic around the ring road, we may merely increase congestion elsewhere. The same cars speeding round the ring road will then attempt to come into or out of York along roads which cannot be “improved” or dualled.

I think York needs to have smart solutions to congestion so we can avoid the mistakes that so many towns in England have made.

Sara Robin, Wentworth Road, York.