TO sound a more questioning note than the rather self-congratulatory tone of most of your reporting of Royal Ascot at York, I ask what the estimated environmental cost has been to the city.
Has the city council undertaken an environmental impact assessment of the week's activity so that we have any sense of how it has contributed to the city's already excessive ecological footprint?
If not, why not?
From local observation, it would seem the increased traffic, longer journeys, vast amounts of waste generated, some of which is still lying on pavements around the bins in our neighbourhood, constant helicopter flights and chemical toilets can only have had a detrimental effect. It is surely time that such considerations were taken into account when major events such as this are planned.
We should not ignore the implications our actions have for the environment.
However, it was good to see the royals using sustainable transport at least some of the time - even if they were flown in and the horses did arrive by van.
Laura Potts,
Dove Street,
York.
Updated: 10:39 Friday, June 24, 2005
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