A COPY of my letter recently sent to the planning department at Warrington Borough Council: According to the Warrington Guardian the purpose of the path that scars the recreational field at the back of Wellfield Street and Samuel Street is part of the ‘safe routes to school’ scheme and is developer-funded.

There is already a well-lit traffic free adequately maintained path that runs along the back of both streets, apart from a small section at the head of Wellfield Street, which becomes flooded from time to time and is unpaved.

Surely it would have been more sensible to use the development fund money to stop the flooding and make good this small section of the back road rather than dig up good land, lay a new path, and put up what looks like yet more street lights? So much for saving electricity and global warming considerations.

At present this land is used by dog walkers and children playing football, which is fine.

We the residents of both these streets with the help of the police, have finally got the dangerous off-road bikers away from this field.

These bikers now have an ideal opportunity to tear up and down along a tarmac so-called safe path, all through the summer.

The buzz-word of safety has produced a knee-jerk reaction. This ill-considered scheme is going to make things far less safe, and more expensive all round. (Unsafe for children to play, more calls to the police and more electricity.) If there had been any money left from the developers, perhaps the council could have used it to cut back the trees that tower above the houses on both streets to a reasonable height, thus letting in light to the backs and reducing the risk of high winds flattening one of these trees.

This hard pruning is at least four summers overdue but spending money on a gratuitous path is apparently more important.

VIV ROBERTS Sankey Bridges