Sir — Whilst agreeing with Jake Backus (Letters, October 17) that a cycle way has been forgotten in the present Summertown splurge, one wonders what has not been forgotten.

The development has forgotten the need to be reasonably economical in terms of the quality of seats and the inadequate number of few cycle racks.

Keeping pavements to a reasonable size has been forgotten, they are now of a ridiculous width. The need for an adequate number of disabled parking spaces has been forgotten.

Least surprisingly, the provision of a goodly number of trees has been forgotten. Echoes here of Cornmarket when the golden four excuses were lamely trotted out; troubles with roots, access for service vehicles, obscuring security cameras and access for powered wheelchairs. Of course, these are all spurious. The whole development looks as though function, appearance and money were of no importance. Still, it’s other people’s money after all.

Gerard van Dam, Eynsham