Sir – We object to your coverage of the proposal to redevelop Botley shopping centre: is it good journalism to use ‘artists’ impressions’ without specifying that they are commissioned by the developer?
An independent artist might offer less benign pictures of what Doric Properties have in mind for Botley.
Pictures that would depict their proposed six-screen cinema plus their proposed six storeys for their proposed 600-student room residence plus their proposed Heyford Hill Sainsbury’s-sized superstore.
If the artist’s impressions honestly depicted how this ‘Beast in Botley’ can live alongside the small individual houses, businesses, pub, shops, and school across the road, the pictures would render the complete lack of sympathy of Doric’s plans for the character of what is essentially a quiet, residential neighbourhood of Oxford.
An independent artist might also be keener to emphasise the lack of vision, the sad banality of the project, and its ‘cloneville’ dimension.
Gen and Rafael Ramirez, Oxford
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