Sir – Now that the revamped Bonn Square is a couple of months old, I’ve taken a critical look at what has been achieved for the £2m (?) spent on the project.

The old layout,while in need of attention,at least provided an oasis of trees and grass in a busy commercial area of the city centre.

Money could have been usefully spent on re-turfing,cleaning of stonework and some increase in usable area at the front for displays by organisations,while retaining character.

We know of the public resistance to the tree felling, more vociferous by some and actioned by others, however well-meaning.

In their place we have seven immature trees that will take some years to fully grow. Hardly compensation for the loss of the originals.

The (expensive looking) furniture, seating and lighting columns, are perhaps more suited to a Milton Keynes setting.

Fine in the right place, but are we trying to turn the city into a copy of MK? Let’s hope not. Close inspection of the bronzed columns shows surface corrosion already appearing.

The old site had wood seats,in need of replacement, granted, but at least more suited to the area in design (and cheaper, surely). The slope of the new design is unlikely to help when it comes to making use of the area for displays. If it rains hard,the surface will become slippery, with water running down to the public at the bottom (or have I missed a clever drainage system?).

Finally, while it has retained, rightly, the War Memorial (is the missing lettering going to be renewed?), the Commemoration Stone (dating, I believe from 1974) is missing. Will this be re-instated on the site, its logical place? Bonn Square an oasis? No, more of a desert.

S.Wyatt, Oxford