MANY years ago, planners wanted to build the northern bypass through the south Huntington/York boundary green belt.

Fortunately, local protesters complained and it was built where it is. Not so fortunate for residents living outside the ring road and commuting into the city.

However, it should be noted that the residents' committee was shown the new plans for the northern bypass.

You can imagine our comments when we saw the road was a single carriageway.

We were assured by the traffic experts that the road would cope with the volumes of traffic until 1996.

If only! The road was running way above expected traffic volumes within six months.

We suggested flyovers, etc, would reduce delays and congestion, but it all fell on deaf ears - very similar to now in fact.

One more observation. Can't the council approach Tony Blair and his road planners to obtain funds from the European Union coffers?

Spain, and other countries, have had millions of pounds spent upgrading roads, some of which don't actually go anywhere.

James Whitehead,

Whenby Grove,

York.

Updated: 11:00 Friday, July 01, 2005