Sir – In reaction to your article (News analysis, April 25) about how to protect views in Oxford, your readers may be interested to know of the work which Colvin & Moggridge carried out for the City of Edinburgh, completed in 2010.

Like Oxford, Edinburgh is a city where the population and visitors care passionately about the skyline. The study identified the key skyline features and 70 important viewing places, several of which consist of an area from which there are views rather than a single viewpoint.

From this information, data was prepared so that the level of the bottom of the open sky needed to conserve the skyline can be worked out simply for any particular location. More importantly the data was entered in the City’s Uniform information system so that it can be retrieved before any design work for a specific site is started.

To be effective, geometric data is as essential as understanding heritage significance.

A view can only be protected if the shape of the line of sight is clearly defined.

However in the case of the views from Port Meadow cited, the article does infer that the University of Oxford proposed a project knowing full well that the view would be damaged.

If this is really so, whether as a result of greed or ignorance, such carelessness about what makes Oxford inspiring is likely in the long run to damage the University’s reputation and so its ability to raise funds for future important academic projects.

Hal Moggridge, Colvin & Moggridge, Filkins