Don't Reject Country Park Proposals Too Soon

IT was with great interest that I read the letter in your paper from the Ely Riverside Association regarding their thoughts on the proposed country park in the city. I was intrigued by their suggestion that the current proposals for the country park shoul

IT was with great interest that I read the letter in your paper from the Ely Riverside Association regarding their thoughts on the proposed country park in the city.

I was intrigued by their suggestion that the current proposals for the country park should be rejected. I say intrigued because we are still analysing the public and stakeholders responses to some initial ideas - no firm proposals have been put forward.

We took the conscious decision last year to give the public and organisations such as the Riverside Association the chance to feed in their comments about how we could make the best of our precious open space.

The Country Park rightly is in the hands of the people as public open space always should be. We believe the countryside should be accessible to as many people as possible, with the more sensitive wildlife areas enhanced and protected.

It is our duty as a local authority to encourage our residents to improve their health whether it be through swimming, playing sport or walking. This makes the Country Park very important to the future vibrancy of our health and well-being as well as being a vital area for the district to breathe.

The Ely Riverside Association comments will be taken into consideration along with all feedback we have received from our consultation to form the basis of the proposals to protect and enjoy the nature which surrounds us.

CLLR MIKE ROUSE

Chairman of the Country Park working party