SIR,
My concern is over the delay in getting planning permission for the cycle path in Tintern, due to the perception that there is not adequate provision for parking.
I am a Tintern resident with two young children.
I, like most Tintern residents, am fully in support of the cycle path.
It will be a wonderful addition to the area, opening it up in a sustainable manner to people from beyond the area.
It will bring income and life to the village and area; and it will be a wonderful facility for the increasing number of young families in the village.
I'm afraid I am beginning to find the parking argument a tedious red-herring, and I suspect a last resort of an anti-group.
I am rather bemused by what appears to be a deliberate misinterpretation of the "transport assessment" commissioned by Sustrans.
According to the Beacon, Chris Lowe says that "The transport assessment states that the demand for parking at the Tintern Old Station is likely to exceed available spaces".
This misinterprets the report and contradicts my own experience.
The only time people who come to visit us do not bring their cars is when they cycle and they would be far more likely to cycle if there was a cycle path.
Mr Lowe continues that "there is no guarantee that they will not use Tintern as the main point of access to the footpath/cycleway", as opposed to the Chepstow end or elsewhere.
Why it is even thought that cyclists, who love to cycle,, would want to drive to their destination, is beyond me.
It is car drivers who fill up the car park, not cyclists.
The option of cycling from Chepstow that the cycle path would provide would mean less traffic, not more.
And Mr Lowe's report certainly doesn't seem to take into account the mitigations of the sustainability strategy of the government.
Additionally, it cannot have escaped the highway officer's attention how potentially dangerous the main road is through Tintern itself.
As the problem already exists, this rather discounts any argument over how people would get from the Abbey car park if they so chose to park there.
As far as the Angiddy car park to Tintern road is concerned, it is already a dedicated regional cycle route.
As a local, the cycle path would be a wonderful and safe opportunity for our five year old to enjoy cycling in safety and get out of the village into the woods on a flat route; and we would regularly cycle into Chepstow to shop.
Please resolve this wasteful delay to one of the best schemes offered to this area in many years.
David Greenhalgh
(Tintern)