I WRITE with regard to the Lancaster City Council plan to redevelop the Storey Institute in Lancaster.

The covenant for the use of the building agreed between Sir Thomas Storey and the council states clearly that it is 'for the purposes of the advancement in the borough of science and art and technical and industrial education, more particularly for affecting the purposes of the Public Libraries Act 1892, The Technical Instruction Act 1889, The Technical Industrial Institutions Act 1892 and any statutory development or instruction and dissemination of knowledge and information in such other subjects in art, science, literature, history and technical and industrial education as the corporation may from time to time deem expedient'.

There is no reference at any point to reducing the gallery space there in favour of building commercial industrial business units.

The current policy of the city council appears to be that there are no artists in this area worth encouraging.

A forthcoming exhibit at the Storey is advertised as being of some interest to Charles Saatchi. This appears to be its sole necessary qualification to exhibit there. The entire strategy is ridiculously short-sighted and ignorant when one would imagine that the Storey Institute could play a vital role in rectifying the situation by assisting local artists. But not if it's turned into a business park.

Fortunately, now we know that that is not permitted by the covenant, perhaps we can get on with determining some more appropriate use for the building, of benefit to the community it was intended to serve.

Chris Simpson, Lancaster.