Sir - I am glad to see members of the High Street colleges addressing the problems of the High.

It was said to be one of the most beautiful streets in the world. I've been wondering why I no longer feel that this is true, even though it now has less car traffic. Deregulation of buses certainly has not helped Oxford.

It has meant more bus stops but it has not resulted in cheaper fares, just two companies running buses that are too often mostly or half empty.

Of the two main companies, the Oxford Bus Company has been committed to lessening its impact on pollution in the city. It has adapted the engines of most of its fleet to be less polluting in the carcinogenic nitrogen dioxide. There are still areas of the city where the level of nitrogen dioxide is above the Government advisory levels.

However, buses like the Oxford Tube are not only polluting and incredibly noisy, but also dangerous to cyclists in their excessive length at corners and put an enormous stress on the road surfaces. The stress is actually magnified exponentially as the weight on the axle increases.

When these buses were re-routed along Jeune Street, the street ended up with tyre tracks left along it.

If we want to reduce the ruts in our roads and the number of times we suffer roadworks, then we need to have a weight limit on the regular traffic that comes through the city. If we want to reduce the pollution, we need to enforce Low Emissions Zones as soon as possible, hopefully in all areas of bus congestion.

Nuala Young, Oxford