THERE is a contentious issue raging in Clifton. I refer to the proposed building of blocks of flats on the tennis courts in Compton Street.

The construction of 54 prestigious flats and attendant car-parking next to a conservation area will without doubt generate serious traffic congestion. The proposed buildings are grotesquely out of character with any other buildings in the area.

The land on which they are to be built on has been, throughout the 20th century, used for recreational purposes and it is possible that St Peter's acquired the land on the understanding that it should remain so. The vendors, St Peter's School, has displayed a total disregard and lack of sympathy to this area.

It has have enjoyed a lot of goodwill and respect from the local community down through the years and stand to lose it with the stoke of a pen. The site in which the tennis courts is located is one of the few places of solitude in Clifton.

The saddest part of this sordid episode is that the local authority seems to be giving scant regard to the impact that this kind of development will have on an area that is already groaning under the twin stresses of high-density housing and gird-locked traffic congestion.

George Mapplebeck,

Grove View,

Clifton, York.

Updated: 11:42 Saturday, February 03, 2001