YOUR report "Pledge to make York a safer place to live", (April 21), and the council initiative to clamp down on anti-social behaviour prompts me to question how we define it, how it affects safety and where we draw the line.

Is it an anti-social act to spoil our environment?

The proposal to have a bus priority lane on Malton Road from Muncastergate to Heworth Green roundabout replaces almost all the grass verges with Tarmacadam, defacing what is now a most pleasant run into the city, and this is only the first phase. It will ultimately extend to the Monk's Cross Park and Ride.

As for it affecting safety, part of the complete scheme will be the removal of all three of the centre road traffic islands near the Muncastergate junction, introduced some years ago when it had been recognised as an accident black spot. There had been two fatalities.

Their removal is seen by the York Consultancy "not to have a significant detrimental effect" - but what has changed, is traffic slower, have numbers reduced? Will it make the Muncastergate/Malton Road junction a safer place to live as well as spoiling the environment?

The purpose of the bus priority lane is to reduce journey time by four to five minutes at peak traffic periods, about one and a half hours a day, but how long will it be before it shortens someone's life?

Fred Bramfitt,

Muncastergate, York.

Updated: 10:12 Thursday, May 06, 2004