Sir - Hugh Jaeger suggests (Letters, October 26) that improvements to the Mount Place Bridge would be an adequate substitute for a lifting bridge at the end of Great Clarendon Street. Certainly such improvements would allow cyclists travelling from North Oxford to have an assured journey time to the station. But what about the convenience for pedestrians?

A lifting bridge would benefit the boaters moored in the Hythe Bridge Arm and the residents of the 190 flats and houses in Rewley Park. The length of the walk to the Jericho Store, the Post Office and Co-op would be reduced by 500 metres - a ten minute walk. Neither bridge will provide direct access to the station unless the owner of the bridge over the Castle Mill Stream, adjacent to Isis Lock, can be identified. No one claims either the ownership or the responsibility for the maintenance of this key link. The wooden decking of this bridge is becoming loose and, unless repairs are carried out soon, the bridge will have to be closed for safety reasons.

Tom Hassall, Oxford