SIR – I write as the current gas main roadworks on Market Street and Lower Kirkgate have again showed up that the central area road system is inadequate when the roads are blocked.

Since the closure of Petergate, there is no diversionary route at all in the heart of the city centre for buses in particular.

Many services are having to do massive detours as far out as Hamm Strasse or run via Hall Ings and missing all the main stops just to get to the top of Church Bank.

In days gone by, Petergate would have been a short detour. I do wonder if the last few decades of planning has now made the central area road system too inflexible?

Perhaps Well Street should be reopened to through traffic, maybe just for buses, once Westfield is completed to ease future problems?

Phil Barraclough, Sandhill Close, Bradford