Sir – The article (May 23), about Exeter’s proposed development plans for the former Ruskin site in Walton Street states ‘...the plans have been broadly welcomed by the Jericho community’ and an earlier article on April 25 about the same proposal included a quote attributed to Paul Hornby of the Jericho Community Association “...we have no objections to the size and context...”

As residents of Worcester Place, Walton Street and Walton Lane, our houses fall directly under the extra shadow that would be imposed by the much greater height and extended roofline of the proposed building.

We would spend half of the year in the shadows and the other dazzled by the enormous shiny new roof and large glazed areas.

We know that Exeter will want good relations with their new neighbours but to do this they must scale back the height of the proposal.

The positive comments attributed to Mr Hornby were based on a Jericho Community Centre meeting on Monday, February 11, that he did not attend in person.

If he had, he would have heard several of us making clear our significant concerns about height, noise and glare.

The Oxford council website includes 75 public comments of which only two are positive.

That feedback reveals the true story. The council has recently approved, against the strong opinion of local residents, very tall University buildings on Port Meadow and Walton Street; the Exeter plans for the former Ruskin site would similarly create new buildings far higher than those they are replacing, dominating the housing in the surrounding conservation area.

This should be of concern not only to those who will live in the shadow of these buildings but also those who do not wish the character of Jericho to be overwhelmed by oversized University buildings.

Professor Victor Flynn, Chris Johnson, Mark Johnson-Watts, Mary Keen, Nicky Schlatter

Oxford