JAMES Cowan is so right in stating the need for urgent action to prevent Durham City from disappearing as a recognisable town and becoming even more of a student campus than it is at the moment.

The two behemoths threatening the city are the University and the County Council who appear to be in league together.

The voices of small groups like Durham City Trust and various residents associations who care deeply about Durham seem to be side-lined or ignored.

The catch phrase “An ambitious university for an ambitious city” is quoted by the vice chancellor but what does it mean.

I would think that the ambition for the city would be to get back to the time when it was inhabited by people who lived there permanently, raised their families there, took pride in their properties and enjoyed living in a small town with a wonderful Cathedral and a university which did not try to denude the city of people.

If the University has ambition to expand then it has the whole of County Durham in which to spread itself without the need to abolish a small city in its expansion.

The sight of Durham at the moment with all the building sites devoted to the purpose of raising yet more student accommodation can only be described as heart breaking.

Margaret Purdom, Durham City