I am writing concerning the proposed Botley West Way development.

There have been letters opposing this complex project which involves a number of disparate property holders but it is an integrated plan with the possibilities of providing improved and enlarged community facilities, including the public lending library and the Seacourt Hall parish rooms, perhaps even a more centrally and conveniently placed medical centre.

In the 45-plus years I have lived in the locality there has been much residential development but only the ill-fated and short-lived Elms Court Ballroom in the way of substantial community provision.

If the opponents of this Vale of White Horse/Doric scheme do succeed in stopping or delaying it, the individual property owners may well proceed separately.

The developers of the two-house plot on the corner of Arthray Road/Westminster Way, quickly rejected approaches and have built their eight flats on the site. May not the owners of the old Elms Court site also feel that their property has been empty and under-utilised for too long?

The offices above the empty bank branch have carried “To Let” advertisements for ages.

The whole site, bounded by West Way/Westminster Way and Chapel Way would easily accommodate a Brookes Oxford University hall of residence, say 800 study bedrooms in a five or six-storey U-shaped block, complete with services, courtyard garden, and student union bar.

There would be no space for any library or Seacourt Hall replacements. With their cornerstone plot gone, Doric withdraw. Continuing austerity measures from central and all tiers of local government cause the Vale to settle for a much lower key scheme, a deal with one of the major supermarkets sees only the south-east corner of the square redeveloped. The present Co-op and adjoining two or three units demolished to make way for a 7am-11pm “enhanced” convenience store, with above three or four floors of further study bedrooms, another 300 to 400 students.

TED BEAVER, Hazel Road, Botley