It appears that the Arc Light issue is now fast becoming a Barbican-type fiasco, but the question has to be asked, do we really need an Arc Light centre at all?

Could it be that providing a centre for the homeless or dispossessed in York only serves to feed the problem?

The reason that the UK has the highest teenage single-mother problem in Europe is that the present Labour Government encourages this situation by giving out more taxpayers' cash, ie benefits, to these people than any other European country.

It has been quoted in recent articles that the residents of Arc Light are no threat to anybody, but it seems the regular appearance by some of them in The Press's In The Courts section tells another story.

It is quite understandable why the residents of York do not want it on their doorsteps. Perhaps the Reverend Paul Wordsworth or Jeremy Jones could do the honourable thing and put them up.

R Waite,

Windmill Rise,

York.

Updated: 09:36 Tuesday, May 02, 2006