IN answer to Councillor Orrell's challenge,( Evening Press, March 23), may I, as a member of the Save Our Barbican campaign group, make a suggestion?

Remember how the Barbican was built out of the proceeds of the sale of the Askham Bar site at Tesco?

Well, because the council is, apparently, planning to sell land at the Foss Islands road depot - where Morrisons supposedly want to build a supermarket, why can't this cash be used to safeguard the three pools and other sporting facilities, including the Barbican?

In answer to the letters by S Bell and Mrs P Baird (March 22), the so-called "rent-a-mob" led by Mr John Issit, includes members of the action group of 1999, apparently admired for their "hard work and tenacity".

This group, from 1999, did not work hard to see their pools pulled down and replaced by one smaller and privatised pool. I say one, because there will be no replacement for the training pool used by local schools.

In fact, as far as we know, there aren't, as yet, any definite plans for this so-called "state-of-the-art" pool; and the present pool would not be "at the end of its life" if it had been responsibly funded.

Users of Edmund Wilson and Yearsley baths would not be happy to lose either of their pools to pay for the refurbishment of ours.

As for Mr Orrell's worries about the 240 flats, he needn't lose any sleep, they are springing up like mushrooms in this area. But, thankfully, not as tall as the ones planned for the Barbican site.

Mrs H Pugh,

Kexby Avenue,

Hull Road,

York.

Updated: 10:44 Monday, March 29, 2004