AS chairperson of the recently held Piccadilly Plaza residents' meeting, can I reassure Ms Flewitt (Letters, August 5) the meeting was raised purely in response to the effect the Coppergate II proposals would have on our homes.

Land Securities was not involved in either the meeting or the subsequent press release which was issued in an attempt to counter what we felt to be the wholly negative reaction to the scheme in the press.

The point of our residents' committee is not to enter a general environmental debate but to address specific issues that directly affect the participants.

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the council to address the relative concerns of each single-issue group such as ourselves or the River Foss Society, and to determine what benefits the city as a whole.

Kate M Hewison,

Trafalgar House,

Piccadilly, York.

...YORK welcomes people from all over the world. Visitors are vital to its economy as the council well knows.

Sightseers come back time after time to enjoy the atmosphere of this very friendly city with a wealth of attractions and a place in history.

One criticism: the neglect of Clifford's Tower and the Castle area. This unsightly 'car park' should be turfed and landscaped. With seats provided it would be a greatly improved 'Eye of York'.

Sanctioning modern (and superfluous) shop units in the centre of this city is unthinkable.

Any council allowing it would not long survive this retrograde step.

Mary Nesbitt,

Buckingham Street,

York.

...LOOKING at the photograph 'York's Taste of Tuscany' (photo of the week, August 10) I realised how short of open spaces we are in our city. Clifford's Tower is already made less significant by the buildings surrounding it. I hope the council will think again about a new shopping mall in this area, and let the citizens of York retain the open space.

Jean Blades,

Deramore Drive West,

Badger Hill,

York.