Letter: Taking responsibility for the `Versailles of London'

Sir: Your correspondents (Letters, 17 September) are wrong to reduce the debate about the Royal Naval College to one of public sector vs private sector.

The college is currently in the public sector and yet access is limited to the painted hall and chapel. You cannot wander round the courtyards at will. One end of the enclosure is used as a car park, the other features a dilapidated tennis court and some prefabs. From what is visible within, it would appear that the horrible fluorescent lighting Alberto Garciga fears is already in place.

On the south side the buildings are bounded by a permanent traffic jam and there are only two trains running per hour, not three, as Geoffrey Thompson suggests.

While this in itself does not mean the college should be sold off, I do not understand why the debate is so heated now rather than, say, five years ago when the horrendous wastage of a national asset was equally clear.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Bostock

London, SE10

18 September