does City of York City Council and its partners seriously think that spending half-a-million pounds on cycle access to York Railway Station is justified (The Press, December 11)?

Talk about getting priorities wrong and pandering to minority interests! Has anyone thought to ask how many people who travel by train to and from York Railway Station get there and back by bicycle?

Most people I see are encumbered with “baggage” that prevents them cycling, and will gain no benefit from the changes. I accept there will be some tangential improvement for pedestrians and the disabled, but this can be measured in tens rather than hundreds of thousands of pounds.

I also understand this capital project will be grant-aided and in normal times I would applaud the pursuit of government grants. But given our exceptional financial state, is it apposite to ask where people think the grant aid comes from in the first place?

Perhaps the council should be arguing that the funds for Cycling City York which come from the public purse should be “passported” through to the council to deal with the road maintenance dangers (especially for cyclists) from the cold snaps we are enduring.

Allan Charlesworth, Old Earswick, York.


• PEOPLE grumble about cyclists without lights but parents cannot buy bicycles with built-in lights. There would be chaos on the roads if motorists had to rely on fragile plastic lights which break easily and rely on batteries which keep running out.

With modern technology, lights could be an integral part of a bike and be expected to last for five or ten years without needing replacement parts. It would be easy nowadays to provide the power without the drag associated with old-fashioned dynamos.

Rob Wheway, Director, Children’s Play Advisory Service.