Shame on Ripon Cathedral for trying to ride roughshod over local cafes - Yorkshire Post Letters

I was astonished, and greatly saddened, by your article "Fears that cathedral's plan will hit city's cafes" (October 21).

To his great credit, retired engineer Stanley Mackintosh unearthed a "design and access statement," part of the planning documents submitted by the cathedral, which states a proposed refectory would need to prevent visitors "drifting away...and using the various cafes in the city." The refectory, part of a £6m expansion plan, would need to be of a certain size "to be a financially viable part of the cathedral business plan."

I find it appalling that the Church, which, at this level, can clearly call on considerable sources of wealth for support, can seemingly have such callous disregard for the hard-working, small businesses which form the lifeblood of the city of Ripon.

A Ripon cathedral spokesperson has said the statement was written by an architect. He or she patronisingly added the trite remark that it had been taken out of context.

The fact that the so-called "cathedral business plan" would, by the cathedral's own admission in the statement, effectively ride roughshod over the community in this manner should make its perpetrators hang their heads in shame. It shows a type of cynical, uncharitable attitude that drives ordinary people away from the Church and invites deserved accusations of hypocrisy.

I'm not surprised that clearly embarrassed cathedral representatives are trying to alter the reference in the statement to the refectory to "ensure it's much clearer." They need not bother. Their aim for the refectory, and their attitude to the city's cafe owners and traders, are quite clear.