GILLIAN Cruddas reckons the Ferris wheel planned for Leeman Road could be a hook to attract people to the city (July 6).

I hope she is right, and I am sure World Tourist Attractions have done their sums or else they would not be targeting York so keenly.

While I admit to having been on the wheel in London the architecture one looks down on is world class.

The architecture and general panorama in York is nothing in comparison.

And the wheel planned for York, at 170ft, is not as high as York Minster, the most interesting building in the area, so I cannot really see why anyone would want to ride it. Walk up the Minster instead.

I just hope the general trend of tackiness, ie the Parliament Street Christmas fairground and the expansion of more fruit machine venues throughout York, is curbed. Visitors come here for the historical values the city has acquired over hundreds of years, not cheap novelties.

Robert Waite,

Windmill Rise,

Holgate,

York.

Updated: 09:51 Friday, July 08, 2005