I WRITE to reply to Gerry Marshall's comments. It will be a surprise to most people in the Mill Street area that, to quote Gerry Marshall, the development of Trajan House for Thames Valley Probation will “contribute to the regeneration of West Oxford” as most of us probably didn't realise this quiet, historic area was in need of regeneration.

It also shows how Thames Valley Probation has focused entirely on the building it wishes to move to without regard or reference to the community that surrounds it.

Gerry Marshall's assurances that “there is no evidence that a probation office causes crime to go up” falls on deaf ears when we understand the office itself will have secure offender areas, CCTV, one-way mirrors and separate staff and probationer entrances. Our community, which includes over 50 children and young people, will have to do without such safeguards.

This facility belongs in the heart of the city, near the police station and courts. To site a huge probation office in an enclosed residential cul-de-sac doesn't make any sense at all.

FRANCES MELVIN, Barrett Street, Oxford