I wish to add my voice to that of Jacques Berthoud (April 10) in drawing your readers' attention to plans for the re-development of Victoria House as a four-storey hotel now being considered by the City of York Council.

As anyone who cares to inspect the drawings at St Leonard's Place will discover, the proposed scheme is a thoroughly undeserving one which, in both scale and design, is wholly out of keeping with the fine architecture of Micklegate, universally recognised as one of York's most handsome Georgian streets.

The scheme now under consideration is a re-submission, the earlier one having been withdrawn after adverse comment from the public and the city's development control officer. However, instead of listening to local concerns and professional advice, the same architects have chosen to press ahead regardless and have put forward what is essentially the same scheme with a few superficial details changed.

For this piece of effrontery they deserve a forthright response from other friends of Micklegate, who it is to be hoped will now write in and express their views before the formal consultation period ends on April 24.

The old Victoria House had few friends, but there is nothing to be gained by getting rid of one eyesore only to put up another in its place.

Tim Gates,

Hampden Street,

Bishophill, York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.