Sir, - So Yuill Homes and George Wimpey are jointly applying for planning permission to build high density housing at Castle Hills, Northallerton.

Castle Hills is a good example of the kind of earthwork castle constructed to impose Norman lordship over the North of England in the early medieval period.

Furthermore there is some degree of historical association between it and the nearby Battle of the Standard (1138).

Cause, you might think, for the site to be cherished and serious attempts to be made to secure public access and appropriate study and interpretation so that future generations may appreciate its significance. Oh no, the planning application envisages its emasculation by the kind of high-density residential development familiar over large swathes of the country with its significance lost and its context largely ruined.

I urge Yuill Homes and George Wimpey to select an alternative, less-damaging site and your readers to contact Hambleton District Council planning department to object to the current proposal.

ERIK MATTHEWS The Green, Northallerton.