I REFER to your article concerning the relocation of a York homeless centre ("An appalling monstrosity", The Press, April 23).

Somebody has slipped up badly somewhere, in commissioning an architect to produce such a medieval edifice. If they had been asked to design a jail, then I would say well done, because that is exactly what it looks like to me.

Just add bars to the windows, and surround the place with a high security fence, and there you have it.

This building does not have to be put up in Fishergate, it can be relocated somewhere more suitable, away from the city.

Such a move should be some way to easing the pressure on the country's jails, which would herald good news for city magistrates.

Instead of dishing out suspended sentences, they would be able to "bang 'em up" on the spot. Rather this than witness more extravagant waste of taxpayers' money, by scrapping the existing plans.

J H Roy, Hadrian Avenue, York.


* AT least the current building housing the Peasholme Centre is pleasant to look at and fits in with its surroundings. The artist's impression of the proposed new building in Fishergate is a reminder of the old workhouses that used to house the poor and needy.

For a city with World Heritage Site ambitions, is this the best we can do for a site overlooking the Foss basin?

I wonder if the proposed new council building set to replace the Peasholme Centre will be as bleak and out of place as its near neighbour, Stonebow House?

Alec Acomb, Hillcrest Avenue, Nether Poppleton, York.