George Birkett (letters 1st June) is quite right to raise questions about the proposed Mayflower development which offers "more of the same" and was obviously designed before the corona pandemic changed many aspect of the way we live.
Yes, we need more housing and employment and live-work units have potential but do we really need more restaurants when so many have closed in Oxford Street and Westquay?
Do we need more hotels if, as Mr Birkett says, existing ones have not been doing well and certainly the number of visitors is not likely to increase any time soon; in fact, with the cruise problems, a decrease is to be expected.
And, with problem gambling on the rise, should we welcome another casino?
My main concerns with both the artist's impression in the Echo and the video showing what the development will look like is the absence of green spaces of any significant size - "green verges" and "tree planting" mentioned but no open green spaces other than those on rooftops - and the hundreds of cars but not a single bicycle!
Health and wellbeing space will be needed to offset the respiratory problems resulting from the air pollution caused by all the extra cars, even if they are electric.
At a council meeting last year I heard a councillor say that there was a need for hundreds of extra secondary school places in the city but that no site could be found in the city centre for a new school, hence the decision to build one on the site of St Mark's school and the Civil Service playing field in Shirley.
Surely a school could have been included as part of the Mayflower Quarter development to provide for the children living in the city's central area (including the new Meridian and Chapel housing estates) rather than expecting them to travel across the city.
This would allow Shirley residents continued access to the playing field that they spent so long trying to save.
There is something wrong with a development that will provide rows of static bikes in a wellbeing centre rather than good access to and from and around the site by bicycle, which would contribute to a reduction in air pollution and better health for all.
The Mayflower Quarter will be split in two if it has a dual carriageway running through it; one lane in each direction should be repurposed for sustainable transport or, even more radical, the whole space could be "shared-space" giving pedestrians free movement throughout the whole Mayflower Quarter, taking as a model the centre of Groningen in Holland where the dual carriageway was dug up and replaced with public open space.
This site has the potential to benefit the people of Southampton if it has lots of green spaces, including horticultural plots, environmentally friendly eco-housing and good provision for bicycles; given it's central position and the intention to create good links with the railway station, it could even be a car-free (with certain exceptions) development.
More radical open-minded thinking is needed; please, please not just more of the same.
Lindsi Bluemel
Southampton
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