Sir - Your balanced response (Editorial, February 1) to the city council's suggestion that wind turbines be erected on the eastern fringes of Oxford is very welcome.

Whatever arguments there may be for such turbines elsewhere, the Green Belt is not the place for them.They are costly to erect, produce little energy in relation to overall needs, and damage cherished views of the countryside.

Sadly the city council is getting into the habit of promoting ill-conceived projects of this kind, witness the idea of building houses all over Southfield golf course, always a non-starter.

The Green Belt is meant to protect the city's setting. It cannot do this if it is regarded as a repository for turbines, pylons, phone masts, incinerators and superfluous road signs. Perhaps our elected representatives could give some attention to tree planting as an alternative to all this noisy and visually intrusive clutter on the edge of our historic city.

Ian Scargill, Chairman, Oxford Green Belt Network