NOW that Mount Oswald Golf Club on the outskirts of Durham is safe from development for a while, it remains for everyone who loves the city's river banks to support the dedicated team of residents who are battling to keep Elvet Waterside as it is.

Do we really need townhouses, apartments, business premises, a restaurant (yet another), parking spaces and a flood-defence about 10ft tall to protect them all?

No doubt this proposed mini-city would be a delightful enclave for a handful of rich families who would have wonderful views of the cathedral and the river flowing within yards of their gardens, but the rest of us would lose those views and the serenity of the walk along the banks, passing the old bowling green which is begging to be transformed into a safe play area for children who live here or visit with their families.

If these plans are passed, what is to prevent further stretches being developed?

To facilitate this development, new access roads would have to be laid, old trees felled and yet more green space lost under brick and concrete forever.

We could be regarded as guardians of these lovely places which our grandparents enjoyed and their parents before them. We owe our children and grandchildren the same opportunity.

Margaret Boyle, Langley Moor, Durham.