I NOTE from the Cambs Times that Councillor Melton suggests that the answer to the appalling and tragic safety record of the Forty Foot is to close the road. The problem is too much traffic . Incredibly one Chatteris Town Councillor told me last week tha

I NOTE from the Cambs Times that Councillor Melton suggests that the answer to the appalling and tragic safety record of the Forty Foot is to close the road.

The problem is "too much traffic". Incredibly one Chatteris Town Councillor told me last week that the problem was "too many strangers about".

Let me explain to our county councillors that as the population grows, and as commercial activity prospers, more vehicles use the roads, more often. This means that without raising the level of taxes, more revenue is generated, to support and improve the local infrastructure. increasing prosperity means fixing roads, not closing them.

We the council tax payers expect to be able to drive safely and without unnecessary risk. We also expect to be able to walk in our towns and villages with reasonable lighting and footpaths, not to have to take our lives into our hands if we venture out after dark. We would like to be able to cycle without undue danger, and walk in the countryside.

These are reasonable aspirations, that other locations in Cambridgeshire appear miraculously able to achieve.

Hundreds of people have been signing our petitions calling for safety improvements on the Forty Foot. I'm not a civil engineer, but even I can see several practical resolutions to the problem.

I also believe that real opportunities exists to explore external funding sources. All that is needed is a change of attitude at Shire Hall. Look for creative solutions, don't retreat behind excuses, inactivity and childish threats of closure.

CHRIS HOWES, Pound Road, Chatteris