Parkland Walk is an ideal route for cyclists

AS one who regularly walks along the Parkland Walk, I welcome the news that Labour-run Haringey Council has negotiated funding of £400,000 from Transport for London s Cycling Excellence Centre to help improve the four-and-a-half mile walk. I have been qui

AS one who regularly walks along the Parkland Walk, I welcome the news that Labour-run Haringey Council has negotiated funding of £400,000 from Transport for London's Cycling Excellence Centre to help improve the four-and-a-half mile walk.

I have been quite taken aback by the simplicity of debate in some of the local papers and (by all accounts) at the area assembly. We all need to remember that different groups of people use the Parkland Walk at different times of day. Most cyclists who use it as a quick commute to Finsbury Park do so at the start and end of the working day, not at weekends, and not in the afternoons and late mornings when families are using it for a relaxing walk.

With more and more environmentally conscious people taking up cycling as an alternative to driving, it is far healthier for local cyclists to use this route rather than having to negotiate heavy traffic while inhaling toxic fumes on our roads. Any improvements to the surface of the path along the Parkland Walk will obviously make it safer and a bit quicker for cyclists - but will also make it more accessible for elderly and disabled people who also have every right to use the walk.

People need to stop thinking about this as a zero-sum game. Labour's plan for a better surface on the path will make it better for everyone.

Ian Hunt

Church Crescent, N8