Sir – I am astonished by John Tanner’s defence of the Port Meadow planning catastrophe (Letters, March 28).


I don’t know which is worse: that the council did not have the information they needed to make an informed decision about the University’s new buildings; or that they made this disastrous decision even when in full possession of official advice that the view was imperilled.
It is absurd to claim that the new buildings will be obscured by trees for part of the year. What about the other half of the year?
And what about the fact that our view of the quirky, delightful tower of St Barnabas has been obliterated for ever, reduced now to a truncated stump perched above the buildings like an old chimney?
As a member of Oxford University, who has enjoyed Port Meadow on and off for 50 years, I am ashamed of my University’s vandalisation of our skyline, and insulted by the council’s failure to do its duty to protect our city’s common heritage.
Professor Jane Caplan, Oxford