CALLS for the resignation of Dave Merrett are unnecessary: we need councillors who understand York’s traffic. Without trying potentially unpopular ideas such as the Lendal Bridge closure, we will never get a grip on York’s impending gridlock.

In 1980 when I came to York, I remember a pleasant bike ride along the A59 to Nun Monkton; cars passed every five to ten minutes and you could hear the birdsong. Nowadays no one in their right mind would consider such a ride.

In the early 1980s, Dave Merrett was involved with another groundbreaking scheme: the pedestrian zone in the centre of York. This was initially unpopular but without someone such as Dave prepared to stick his head above the parapet and try something new, I shudder to think what the centre of York would be like today.

Also thanks to Dave and other councillors and City of York employees, there have been a raft of transport schemes. This means that today in York large numbers of people walk, use the bus or cycle instead of getting into their cars.

Without support for bus users, cyclists and pedestrians we could have the situation similar to Doncaster, where the car is the most important mode of transport, with all the knock-on effects of lack of exercise, traffic jams, obesity and pollution.

Sara Robin, Wentworth Road, York.