IT seems like only yesterday that the council was approving a £1.5 million upgrade for their old computer systems. Now it seems that a further £1 million could be needed to make the 'new and improved' reliable (December 17). Presumably, the computer experts got their sums wrong when the upgrade was sized; or maybe they had the wrong sort of computers on the network.

A reference in the article to "uncontrolled user activity" makes the mind boggle as to what is going on at the council.

Are they all playing computer games?

Richard Lamb,

Greystoke Road,

Rawcliffe, York.

...THE complete apathy which seems to have been the response to the Evening Press report suggesting that taxpayers would have to pay for the almost million pounds it would cost to rectify the faults in the City of York Council's computer system shows how tranquillisation has been poured into the populace resulting in catatonia which would have been unthinkable years ago.

I visited the council tax office where a helpful chap, perhaps sensing that I was there to inform them that I had no intention of voluntarily contributing to this techno disaster, seemed to assure me that this huge amount of money would come from council 'reserves' and not from we council tax payers. From there I went to the planning department in St Leonard's Square where I was told certain details regarding my inquiry into a planning matter were not available because they could not work out how to download it off the computer screen.

Finally, I visited York City Archives next to the Art Gallery where my inquiries were all answered by seemingly unstressed staff who referred to books, documents and files.

This fantastically-efficient resource is looking vulnerable as York University continues to try to steal it and have it moved to Heslington campus where, no doubt, it will be modernised.

Jonathan Charles Bonner,

Huntington Road, York.

Updated: 10:36 Thursday, January 03, 2002