Selby District Council is preparing to undo the best work carried out by the previous renaissance team only a decade ago. Both Market Place and Gowthorpe have the best paved surfaces in town, but plans are evolving to replace these surfaces (and prohibit vehicles from the Market Place) causing six months' of mayhem to the centre of Selby next winter.

This will cause major traffic delays and is the prelude to killing off Selby town centre as a busy shopping centre as we know it. Already traffic conditions are difficult in Selby, with four more shops closing since Christmas.

At the most recent Selby Town Team meeting on February 28, members of the public objected to the complete repaving of the Market Place and narrowing of Gowthorpe, with the installation of speed tables, as an unnecessary waste of public money. We (the objectors) were denounced as 'wreckers'. The Market Place and Gowthorpe projects, although developed over a period of time, can only be fully appreciated as details become available – and the consequent damage to Selby realised.

More public money is now being spent on producing the 'final design' for Market Place before any public consultation. All members of the public can attend the next Selby Town Teem Renaissance meeting at the Scott Road Community Centre today at 6.30pm to learn of North Yorkshire County Council's highways department plans for alterations to Gowthorpe.

The concern is SDC will be so committed to these projects, it will have reached the point of no return before any 'public consultation' can stop these needless and extravagant projects from going ahead.

R Whitehouse
Baffam Gardens, Selby