YOU reported that the three-storey building at Monks Cross, Huntington, was handed over to Norwich Union (May 6).

The building may have been purpose built for Norwich Union but it does nothing to the vista of North Huntington. It is a bland model of a Sixties-style nuclear power station which sticks out like a sore thumb as you approach the Monks Cross shopping complex.

Richard Peak, of the Helmsley Group, may well think that this northern part of Huntington is ripe for development and talks about a workforce of 5,000.

Yet with buildings badly designed like this, the loss of green-belt land and the introduction of more than 5,000 vehicles into the area, he fails to see or care about what the residents see, which is a devastating impact on our environment.

Before further development is approved, the empty offices for sale and let in the Northern Business Park, Clifton Moor and within the city, the brownfield sites and the tear drop site must be developed before more green-belt land in Huntington is ravished and lost.

Peter G Richardson,

Clerk to Huntington Parish Council,

Merlin Covert,

Huntington, York.

Updated: 10:30 Thursday, May 15, 2003