WITH regard to the letter from Jenny Lomas in last week’s Knutsford Guardian and two other letters in previous issues.

Readers may be interested to know that I recently wrote to Cllr Brown who is Cheshire East’s portfolio holder for highways and infrastructure.

I asked how the expenditure on the footpath on Mobberley/ Knutsford Road had been justified as being of a higher priority than the state of our local roads highlighting, as a nearby example, the surface on the Knutsford bound side of the road on the approach to the traffic lights at Birkin Brook.

I received a response from a member of staff stating that the financing for the footpath was from the local transport plan budget and not from the highways maintenance budget.

One of the objectives of the LTP is to minimise the need to travel by car and facilitate integrated forms of sustainable transport.

This was quoted as justification for the expenditure on the footway as it facilitates walking from Mobberley to access facilities in Knutsford.

It is my view that, as suggested by Jenny Lomas, any person walking this route would naturally use the existing serviceable path on the opposite side of the road.

Not only is this path on the inside of the curve and thus shorter, it is also separated from the carriageway by a grass verge and is thus likely to be a safer option. I do accept that its use means that the road would need to be crossed on reaching the junction with Ryecroft Lane.

I wonder how much research was undertaken by the authorities to establish the likely increase in foot traffic as a consequence of and prior to approving the expenditure?

Keith Roden Ashworth Park