Sir - As residents of Banbury Road north of the ring road your article about the proposed construction of a waste recovery plant on the site of the current grain silo filled us with mixed feelings.

We would be delighted to see the demolition of the ugly grain silo, provided the much larger proposed plant is in harmony with the beautiful countryside to the south and east of it. This is an area characterized by long views, and whatever is built on the site will be seen for miles.

The prospect of 186 lorries a day is our greatest concern. We will vigorously oppose this development if those lorries were to come down Banbury Road, adding to the large number of lorries and buses we suffer already. There are at least three options. The most expedient would be to send the lorries down Frieze Way, a dual carriageway to the A34 at Pear Tree. If this were the solution adopted it would have to be rigorously enforced, say with £1,000 fines for using Banbury Road to the south of the site. A better idea would be to build a dedicated access directly on to the A34, which is literally just the other side of the railway line. But the most environmentally sensible solution would be to use the railway itself to transport all the materials instead of lorries. The site is right next to the line between Oxford and Bicester. The proximity of the proposed site to the railway line and the A34 must be exploited fully to ensure that local residents do not suffer the hell of an additional 186 lorries a day thundering past their homes.

Adrian Sutton and Pat White, Oxford