DESPITE the doubts put forward about the proposed Barton West development, it seems that the city council is determined to go ahead with it, even though it was told, long ago, that Barton East should never have been built. It makes one wonder why it decided to increase building in that area at all.

One doesn’t have to think too far ahead to realise the problems that are looming – some of which may not be to the benefit of Marston village.

I doubt if the suggestion, put forward by Derek Smith (ViewPoints, June 18) of using Elsfield Road as an exit from the new estate, will be greeted with cheers.

When I was young, New Marston was isolated from St Clement’s and Marston village by fields, sports-grounds and allotments. The road through the village was little more than a country lane with grass verges and gravel paths.

Today, most of the green space up to Headington has been built over.

This building is not, of course, exclusive to this area but has occurred in all the outlying villages.

Oxford is no longer the jewel set in a sea of green but a jewel set in a sea of brick and concrete.

This expansion, plus the growth of the University, is putting pressure on Oxford, something that it finds difficult to deal with since its centre is not on the scale of most big cities, having a street-plan laid out in Anglo Saxon times, although, I would guess, that the original streets were wider then than now. When in digs in North London I asked the landlady if she had seen the Christmas decorations in central London.

She replied that they rarely ever went there because they could visit the local centre to do all their shopping.

Perhaps the council should concentrate on expanding local shopping areas to bring some relief to Oxford centre, but not by flooding them with competing supermarkets, as outlined in your front page (June 18). Headington is well served with supermarkets as it is without adding more. Adding more would lead to less in the end for the locals.

DERRICK HOLT, Fortnam Close, Headington