DEAR EDITOR - Your excellent front page article last week lists several 'Dreams for the future' and requests readers to send you their thoughts.

In this spirit here is one of mine -- When the A38 trunk road traffic was removed the major part of Bromsgrove High Street was paved over for use by pedestrians. The through traffic now uses Market Street which provides a good north/south bypass for the town centre, that is to say the shopping core between Focus DIY and Hanover Street.

What the centre badly needs is an east/west bypass. This would remove the daily traffic tail back up Stratford Road, sometimes nearly to the bypass and the conflicts between people and vehicles at The Strand and on the lower part of the High Street, and would remove the delay. But how can this be done?

One could acquire a lot of property, and cause a lot of misery and demolish a swathe of buildings either to the north or south of the centre. My dream is to take the shortest route from Slideslow roundabout. Using the high ground of Stoney Hill one could rebuild Stratford Road on the flat, leading to a bridge to cross over the High Street to join with Market Street on the west (or ASDA) side, by ramped approach roads.

The cost of acquiring and demolishing well known buildings, and building new roads through high would be less than for the alternatives mentioned above because the route is shorter. There would still be misery for some, but everyone could enjoy traffic free shopping and less delay on the way to the shops and home again.

Graham Reddie,

East Road

Bromsgrove