I WAS not surprised to read John Holmes s withering and less than illuminating comments (Letters, January 6), in apparent response to my letter of December 16. I am perfectly aware of Cambridge s recent past to which he refers, and I do not need any histo

I WAS not surprised to read John Holmes's withering and less than illuminating comments (Letters, January 6), in apparent response to my letter of December 16.

I am perfectly aware of Cambridge's recent past to which he refers, and I do not need any history lesson.

If Northstowe were being built only on a brownfield site, it would not be a problem - any new housing should be built only on brownfield sites, but certainly not on Gordon brownfield designated sites. It was Gordon Brown who said that all eco-towns (including Northstowe) will have new road and rail links, and clearly Northstowe does not have a rail link.

John Holmes's support for the guided bus and his comments about the adverse effects of a restored original rail line show his ignorance of the consequences of road-based transport at Northstowe:

Every bus on the guideway (albeit with bio-fuel) will have to negotiate and add to normal traffic on all roads before and after its passage on the guideway.

Every household in Northstowe, up to 10,000 perhaps, will have one or two cars, which when used will have to access the A14 to go almost anywhere. John Holmes himself appears not to realise that even with the guideway almost all 'people would be forced to use existing roads either on buses or in their cars' - to quote his own words.

The additional carbon emissions from such multi-vehicle movements can be nothing other than non-eco-friendly.

It may also have escaped Mr Holmes's notice that rail travel is recognised worldwide as being the most eco-friendly mode of transport, better by far than air, sea or road for low carbon emissions.

By all means make use of genuine brownfield land to build your new houses, but destroying agricultural land, pasture land, farms and a golf course as part of the quest for an eco-town is nothing short of madness.

ALAN FITZGERALD

Laxton Grange

Bluntisham