EARLY in the 19th century the city walls and bars were in a state of disrepair and many in authority planned to pull them down. Fortunately, far-sighted city fathers realised what an asset they were and money was found to repair them, thus making our city absolutely unique.

When I see the beautiful white walls against a blue sky and the historic bars which guarded the entrances into the city I give thanks to those who stood firm and retained our heritage to be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike for hundreds of years.

Now our councillors have a similar chance to give something to the city which will earn the gratitude of generations of people. The whole area round Clifford's Tower to the museum and law courts etc should be laid out with grass, flowers, trees and seats to the river bank. It could be so beautiful.

F M Harris,

Hamilton Drive West,

Acomb, York.

...CONGRATULATIONS to the Evening Press on promoting the great Coppergate debate so effectively.

To me the clearest thread running through it is that the people of York want something distinctive and worthy of the city - which the present proposal plainly does not offer.

One of your correspondents urged the case for a public building of world-class architecture. I say we should also go for a world-class transport element.

That means abandoning the dreary prescription of dependence on motorised boxes, multi-storey car parks and second-rate conditions for bus-users, cyclists and pedestrians. The end of the motor-age is coming, signs of oil-scarcity are showing and global warming is now a frightening reality.

The future lies with cities which, starting now, actively develop superb designs to promote low-energy and collective transport. Even York, for all the good work the council has done, lags behind by European standards, and we must catch up. We should leave those who must shop by car to go to the out-of-town centres and instead design a Coppergate free of cars, including open space on the Tower side, housing for people prepared not to own a car and diverse shops for the increasing number of people who will live in the city centre in future.

I might concede a small multi-storey car park at the Fishergate end of Piccadilly to ease the transition, but buses must have absolute priority all the way in from the suburbs to the city.

Jonathan Tyler,

Passenger Transport Networks,

Stonegate, York.

...MALCOLM BAINBRIDGE'S suggestion (Letters, September 15) of an underground car park with a park or open space on top seems an ideal solution to the Clifford's Tower development dilemma. This could be named after the builder of nearby Fairfax House, and other fine buildings in York, and called Carr Park.

Jonathan Charles Bonner,

Huntington Road,

York.