Sir, – Your lead article on the front page (D&S Cleveland edition, April 4), makes depressing reading.

We learn that Stockton Borough Council intends to replace an area of the iconic cobble stones that encircle the Town Hall in Yarm with porphyry blocks, which they insist will be “sympathetic” to Yarm’s character and be an improvement.

This is precisely the sort of scheme which belongs in a special category: myopic verging on the criminal. Obviously there has been a light-bulb moment which has illuminated a flaw, so setting in train a line of thought which has identified the need for a user-friendly surface suitable for the smooth running of pushchairs and prams.

The loser here will be the vulnerable Town Hall (1710) which is undeserving of this attention and will, in all likelihood, finish up looking isolated and ill at ease once disconnected from its familiar and proper surroundings.

Misguided officials have clearly demonstrated just how little they have learned or had experience of a sense of place.

What makes the area unique is continuity and how the generations have rubbed along content with how things stand and with a shared regard for their locale. To stress the “high quality of improvements and materials” is a spurious argument and misses the point completely.

The high-quality and traditional materials are already there and if needs be they can be lifted and re-set; but beyond that leave well alone.

BRIAN LEE, Guisborough