Sir – John Thompson (Letters, January 7) sees the refurbished Ashmolean and a fence in Wolvercote as signs that in cultural terms the underperforming Oxford has ‘found its touch’. I hope that he is right, and that we see many other projects to enrich the culture of our city and county.

What we choose to preserve and value is very revealing about contemporary society. For example, at Upper Heyford, ten miles to the north of the city, is the best preserved Cold War air base in this country (or worldwide). The fact that the public debate about the future of the site has concentrated on houses and car storage shows how little we care about or identify with our Cold War heritage and history.

In so far as John Thompson’s clarion call was aimed at least in part at the local authorities, for 15 years this site has been regarded as a problem and not an opportunity by the county and Cherwell district councils. Both have been hostile to the preservation of the physical remains at Upper Heyford and to the development of any more than a small museum.

Worryingly, this is the context in which the new owners are having to investigate how the potential of this site of world heritage importance can be realised and reconciled with their commercially driven aspirations to develop homes and jobs. It will be instructive to see what cultural priorities emerge in the next decade from the public and local authorities and whether their combined efforts can realise sufficient, inspiration, ambition, and resources.

Daniel Scharf, Tutor in Cold War Heritage, Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, Oxford