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Dear Editor,

Re: Footpath row has polarised the local community 

In reply to the letter from Jean, I thank her for saying that I have been a conscientious NHW co-ordinator.

I founded the group in 2002 and have done my best. I have not resigned until now because I had at first hoped that the pathway controversy would be resolved quickly.

It has dragged on and Jean is right; the longer the matter has been unresolved the more polarised the factions have become. Nearly everything else in her letter I would challenge.

What is true is that I am not in the middle but am at one of the poles. From the tone of some of the letters that have been exchanged, it seems to me that someone else would stand a better chance of maintaining the friendly atmosphere still enjoyed by most but also drawing the footpath contenders back into that atmosphere.

Whatever decision is made about the path, should there be any resultant niggles between people I would hardly be regarded as a neutral. It is for this reason that I have resigned.

The logic that suggests my resignation shows that I have sympathy with these residents’ position escapes me because I sincerely believe that it is self generated, which remark illustrates why I should resign to make way for someone to take over who has not been involved in the pathway dispute.

Yours sincerely,

Peter