York is one of the most attractive cities in Britain and probably in Western Europe. I have spent a few days in the centre during the Easter Weekend. Parliament Street is not one of the areas of the city that immediately comes to mind when thinking of the much-visited areas of the town.

The Minster, peering over the rooftops, is a little distance away. The superb medieval buildings and walls are magnests for tourists, but if you spends time looking above ground floor level, the variation in the architecture is delightful. One of the problems when walking round shopping or going to an office is that the eye rarely has time to look beyond the obvious. Spending a few days gives a local time to appreciate what is normally overlooked.

The sad parts are those at ground level. The investment which went, for example, into the building of the fountain in the middle of the street must have been considerable. It is made mostly of inch-thick granite.

The craftsman who made the fountain has every reason to be proud of the skill and effort that went into the work.

It was, clearly, a genuine effort to make more interesting and attractive an area of the city which arguably lacks ground-level features.

The fountain is not working. It is not working because it has been vandalised in a deliberate and systematic way. Parts of the granite have been broken off. Clearly a lot of force was needed to do the damage. Tools would also have been required. What sort of mind is it that feels that doing damage, on that scale, is fun?

Even when the fountain was working properly it was frequently full of soap suds or discoloured because someone had put something into the water. Then it had to be cleaned out and the whole process started again.

Hopefully, repairs will be undertaken. The longer term question is more serious. Is it possible to raise the standards of behaviour so that these incidents are not repeated? There are numerous examples of litter being dropped and graffiti scrawled, which undoubtedly spoils the look of the place.

The centre of York has litter bins. They are frequently emptied during the day. People cannot be bothered to walk to the bin to put litter into it. They just drop the litter where they are, presumably on the basis that it then becomes someone else's problem. That someone else is the council tax payer.

At least this sort of vandalism can be sorted out. Long term it may be possible to improve behaviour. It does not seem to happen so much abroad.

Acts of corporate vandalism are more difficult. An incorrect planning decision, whether of principle in allowing development at all, or of allowing the wrong sort of development takes generations to sort out.

When I was at school Stonebow House was built. It was always called the Japanese Battleship. I do not know why the Japanese should have been associated with such a monstrosity, but they were.

It hides two decent ecclesiastical buildings both of which deserve a better neighbour. The fact that it has now been listed probably means we are stuck with it for another generation. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now the castle is threatened with devastating development nearby. The fact that the car park is to disappear is hardly a planning gain.

The Eye of York deserves better than adding to the profits of faceless property companies.

Updated: 11:03 Tuesday, April 02, 2002