GEOFF Robbs recollection on the origins of the original Barbican Centre (Letters, January 12) are not my own and, as he aims his letter at “younger readers”, I suggest he, and they, look at the wider picture.

The proposal for a public-owned complex providing two swimming pools, a diving pool, a multi-use sports hall, a soft play children’s area, a climbing wall with tuition, dance studios, an outdoor bowling green, a 1,500 seat auditorium, all at special rates for unemployed and disadvantaged, was in fact broadly welcomed and its progress only hindered by old-guard Thatcher Tory councillors following the “there is no such thing as society/mass privatisation dogma”.

Rod Hills and his many supporters were politically visionary for bringing about a resource which offered such a range of activities and cultural experiences for York people of all ages, and the costs of “subsidy” must be compared with its positive impact on public health, crime and general social well-being.

Geoff Robb calls this subsidy “squandering”. I seem to remember it as an investment which improved my, and many other York people’s, lives. As we now know, without its physical or spiritual improvement can be an expensive business and excludes many.

J C Bonner, Huntington Road, York.