AS I write my house is surrounded by drunken, noisy race-goers, who are leaving half finished drinks on people's walls.

I appreciate that the races generate a lot of money and creates employment for the region, but race-goers do not need to spend two or three hours hanging around the residential areas of South Bank making a nuisance.

We have been told how the police are out in force on race days, but they seem very reluctant to move these people on.

Does enjoying the races have to involve standing around the streets after the last race?

Alken Brookes,

Albemarle Road, York.

...THE traffic generated by the Ebor race meeting last week demonstrates yet again the strain on our road capacity caused by using Sim Balk Lane, Church Lane and Bishopthorpe Road as access routes.

While few Bishopthorpe residents would bemoan the occasional invasion of race-goers, people here are far less happy to accept the continuing use of Sim Balk Lane and Church Lane as access routes for heavy goods vehicles going to and from building sites and businesses on Bishopthorpe Road. It is time an alternative approach to traffic access were actively sought.

Liberal Democrats on City of York Council have been campaigning for some time for the introduction of weight restrictions on Sim Balk Lane. This was overwhelmingly supported by responses to our recent ward survey, with 90 per cent of respondents in Bishopthorpe expressing their approval of the idea.

The misery caused by heavy traffic using Sim Balk Lane and Church Lane as an access route into York must stop.

Coun David Livesley,

Liberal Democrat member for Copmanthorpe,

Lang Road, Bishopthorpe, York.

Updated: 10:09 Monday, August 26, 2002