Sir – I was delighted to see that Freiburg is being held up as a possible example for future development in Oxford. May I suggest that there are other ways in which Freiburg — and many other German, Swiss and French cities — could be looked at with advantage. These cities are based on the idea of a traffic-free centre, with traffic and commercial properties being sent to the outskirts. This means that time and time again one comes into the centre of a city to find a traffic-free square, often with a church or cathedral fronting it and cafes and shops around the edges.
In addition, one will find trees — lots of them. The contrast to the Broad or the High in Oxford is painful.
In the case of Germany they had the dubious advantage of some of their major cities being blitzed and, therefore, having to re-create the city centre from scratch.
This does not apply widely and certainly not in Switzerland, or most cities in France. They also use buses and trams widely, but here in Oxford we already have our excellent park-and-ride facilities.
Perhaps we could afford a second-class rail fare to send some of our town planners abroad!
Dick Brown, Wantage