I WAS greatly encouraged by your report on the York Civic Trust's stance concerning the latest Coppergate riverside development plan (July 20).

I believe the council's 'public consultation' was in fact a soft sell marketing operation, conducted almost exclusively by the developers, with their own commercial objectives in mind.

The Civic Trust's idea to hold a public inquiry, where alternative views on the development can be heard, is surely the way to achieve a genuine act of public consultation.

I am particularly keen to see a landscaped open area of parkland established on the present site of the Castlegate car park. This, I believe, is the only solution that will ensure the physical and aesthetic integrity of the historic Eye of York is preserved for present and future generations to admire and enjoy.

Derek R Wortley,

Turner's Croft,

Heslington, York.