I READ in The Northern Echo that Cleveland Police is replacing its headquarters, built in the 1970s in Ladgate Lane, Middlesbrough, with a new headquarters costing several million quid (Echo, March 20).

Durham Constabulary recently replaced its old Aykley Heads headquarters, again built in the 1970s, while both Durham and Northumberland county councils are planning new county halls to replace the present ones built in – you guessed – the 1970s.

It puzzles me how all these public sector structures, built with and to be replaced by taxpayers’ money, have not lasted even 50 years, yet buildings such as Durham Cathedral and countless other places of worship across the region, have survived for centuries and continue to serve their purposes.

Neil McKay, Lanchester