I WAS saddened to read that York councillors unanimously approved a new sex shop in Bootham. Their excuses "women use it", "it won't be open to the under 18s", and so on are not very convincing.

The man behind Darker Enterprises (an appropriate name in the circumstances, I believe) Ray Darker already owns 85 such shops in Britain. One newspaper describes him as a "porn baron."

His chief aim is to make money by selling what one church pastor called "sexually explicit material promoting perverted sexual fantasies".

At least his other shop on the site was discreet and limited in what it could sell. He will now be able to sell material of a much "harder" nature. Anyone who thinks that the under 18s will not be able to access this material must be naive beyond belief. Although his shop is only open Monday until Saturday, when Christmas comes he will apply to open seven days a week as he has done elsewhere.

Such shops are a blot on the moral landscape of a city whose history is grounded in its Christian heritage. Sadly, it is this heritage which our country and, obviously, our council seems anxious to throw away.

This is something for which we are already beginning to pay the price. The council should be ashamed of itself.

P Smith,

Greencliffe Drive, York.

Updated: 09:56 Thursday, March 10, 2005