Sir – With some trepidation I went for a walk on Saturday on Port Meadow for the first time since the hue and cry in some quarters  about the expanded student accommodation at Castle Mill.

 

It was a beautiful winter's morning – clear and cold and bright. The sun glinted on the river where ducks and geese honked and splashed, cattle mooched on the banks, a flock of starlings wheeled around, and I’m pretty sure I saw an egret and certainly a heron. It was a lovely and tranquil scene.

 

Only on my way back into town was I even aware of the student flats. Do they spoil Port Meadow? Not one jot; certainly not for me nor, from everything I saw and heard, for anyone else. I find the protesters’ rant about the ruination of Port Meadow quite absurd. Time to move on? I think so.

 

Geoff Crawford, Oxford