Obituary: Sir Maxwell Entwistle

MAXWELL ENTWISTLE was a gentleman politician who combined impeccable fairmindedness with a bold vision for the city he loved, writes Walter Bor (further to the obituaries by TFJ Costigan and Fritz Spiegl, 3 March).

Fritz Spiegl's obituary implies, however, that I advocated the building of residential tower blocks. In fact, the very opposite was the case. From the autumn of 1962 when I took office, I tried hard to persuade Dr Bradbury, the City Architect, and the Housing Committee to reconsider their policy to build a large number of high-rise flats which I believed to be wrong for Liverpool on social and environmental grounds. My pleas were ignored and one of the reasons for my resignation four years later was my profound disagreement with Liverpool's housing policy.

Liverpool stopped building high- rise flats years after my departure but by then the damage was done.

I GOT my wires crossed, writes Fritz Spiegl. It was the Liverpool City Architect, Ronald Bradbury, who was responsible for Entwistle Heights, the Braddocks and other tower-blocks. The distinguished Chief Planning Officer was Walter Bor, and he consistently argued against high-rise developments - to the point of open warfare with his employers. A regrettable error on my part, for which I apologise.