The Local Council in the area where you live has decided to demolish an old historical building to build a shopping centre. Write a letter to the head of the Council. In your letter: - explain why it is important to preserve the old building - suggest how the building can be used to benefit the local community - suggest another place for the shopping centre
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with the Local Council's decision to demolish Castlemaine Marketthe Castlemaine Market building in the Old Town where I have lived for six years. Although the building is in very poor conditionin a very poor condition, I do not think it is beyond repair. I believe that the Castlemaine Market can be restored and put to good use for the local community. It can be used to house a tourist information centre or a community centre for the people living in the area. I am convinced that you would have no shortage of people who would gladly volunteer to organise a fundraisingfund-raising campaign for the cause. I understand that the proposed shopping centre is going to bring business and jobs to the area, but I do not think the centre should be builtthis should be done at the costexpense of losing one of the oldest and most interesting historical landmarks in Old Town. I wonder if the Council has considered the abandoned cement factory at the corner of Victoria Street and Kingsway Laneon the corner of the Victoria Street and Kingsway Lane as a possible site for the construction project. I hope the Council reconsiders the decision to demolish the Castlemaine Market and finds a different site on which to build the shopping centrefor building the shopping centre. Yours faithfully, Myles Gray
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter’s strongest feature is its complete, persuasive coverage of the council decision, with a consistently appropriate formal tone and specific alternatives for both the building and shopping centre. Its main limitation is that the ideas are presented as one continuous block, so the highest-priority improvement is to separate the purpose, preservation case, community uses, and alternative site into clear paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly fulfills its purpose, develops all three bullet points, and maintains an appropriately respectful formal tone.
Strengthen the preservation case further by briefly explaining the building’s particular historical or cultural significance.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument progresses logically from objection through proposed uses and an alternative site, with effective linking between ideas.
Divide the response into distinct paragraphs for the opening purpose, preservation and community benefits, alternative site, and closing request.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied, precise, and well suited to a formal civic complaint, including effective phrases about restoration, fundraising, and historical landmarks.
Refine the few less natural combinations, such as using “at the corner of Victoria Street and Kingsway Lane.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex sentence structures is handled accurately, and the rare minor article issue does not affect clarity.
Proofread article use in place expressions to make the otherwise controlled grammar consistently natural.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
The Local Council in the area where you live has decided to demolish an old historical building to build a shopping centre. Write a letter to the head of the Council. In your letter:
- explain why it is important to preserve the old building
- suggest how the building can be used to benefit the local community
- suggest another place for the shopping centre
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.