Sir – Barton’s new development is to be integrated with present-day Barton but Barton residents need more information about how this will be done. Information so far is general and aspirational, lacking specifics. A separate community hub and school are planned, with new school intake limited to two years of primary education and no details beyond that.

The surest way to social integration is through shared schools and community facilities. The positive features for the Barton Community Association were the needed homes. These are now reduced from earlier figures up to 1,200 homes to 600-800; only 40 per cent is social housing; a hotel and seemingly extravagant artworks are planned. The excellent pavilion acquired last year will be folded and moved elsewhere. There is a growing sense of the new community having to be up-market to generate the needed funds. Today’s Barton community is a seriously deprived one but has a strong sense of identity and spirit, as demonstrated by the latest ‘Barton Bash’.

We are urgently looking for needed improvements. The expanded Barton can be a better place for all its residents but how will we relate to the newcomers? And what will we lose through increased traffic, loss of green spaces and parking spaces? Will the mounting costs of infrastructure for the new, such as the needed underpasses, impact funds for necessary improvements of existing homes? We urgently look to the city council for more information so that current residents can feel proud and motivated to get actively involved and can look forward to working with future residents to build an integrated Barton, continuing the work that the Barton Community Association has been doing on behalf of all of Barton’s residents.

Let’s all work towards one expanded, integrated Barton.

R.W. Guillery, The Barton Community Association