GROUP snaps up ‘old gem’. That headline (The Press, October 13) eloquently expresses the disturbing nature of what happens nowadays in York.

It makes the purchase of 500-year-old, Grade-I-listed Cumberland House by developers sound like the fate of an old bracelet in a sale.

Max Reeves, Helmsley Group’s development director, describes purchasing Cumberland House as a means of “further enhancing the city’s unique and historic character”.

How on earth can the historic character of York’s architectural treasures be “enhanced” - unless it’s by maintaining them just as they are? Perhaps this is what Max intends. But his words aren’t reassuring.

Not all Helmsley Group’s projects are disturbing. Its plan for Ousegate House is sympathetic. Its Coney Street Riverside project, though much too large to be entrusted to private developers, could be a partial improvement. But historic, harmonious King's Staith is another matter.

I realise Max Reeves, unaccountable as he is to York’s citizens, probably won’t see this letter even if it’s printed, and needn’t pay it any heed if he does. But just in case he does, this is my message to him: whatever else you do, and some of it is commendable, please leave Cumberland House alone.

John Heawood,

Eastward Avenue,

Fulford, York