Sir – The behaviour of the county council concerning the Magnet scheme is hard to understand.

It commissioned the architects Insalls to produce a report arguing against the listing of the Register Office, which the Secretary of State, in deciding not to list, preferred to the advice of her statutory advisers, English Heritage, who had recommended it.

She was obviously influenced by a letter from the council’s asset strategy manager, which claimed that ‘the listing of the building would potentially have a significant detrimental effect upon a major opportunity for the cultural and economic growth of the city’.

This was despite the fact that the sole criterion for listing decisions is, by statute, architectural quality.

You reported (June 6) that the council had already sold the building to the developers for £3.5m. You also report that the council now says that the centre is ‘too dominant’, and that it calls for ‘alternative solutions that reduce the effect on the ancient monument’ (the Castle).

It is rumoured that as part of the deal the developers agreed to provide new premises for the Register Office, but that they have gone back on this, and it is now proposed to put it in the basement of County Hall. Those who remember the old Record Office know how ghastly that is. What a place to get married!

Peter Howell, Oxford