Sir,

Croft y Bwla is much in the news, and the latest is the proposals to alter the present line of the footpaths crossing this contentious area.

No reasons for the alterations are given, and the proposals are neatly outlined to straighten and 'tidy up' the routes.

Straight lines are so much easier to manage, and fit into possible development plans. They can be fenced, as they have been from the Rockfield housing estate to new 'temporary' road through the fields, and the result is a slog through a muddy morass, guarded by nasty barbed wire, rat run.

No reasons are offered for these changes, and so paths which follow the natural higher, drier contours, are arbitrarily straightened to the detriment of the users.

A good example is the arc that swings from the oak tree, across to the footbridge on the Rockfield Road, thus skirting boggy areas of that field.

Objections must be lodged by 21st January, and sent to R Tranter, Head of Legal Services, PO Box 106, Caldicot NP26 9AN, and should be referenced CW/H45/.0293.

We can be walkers and ramblers, or miserable herded sheep.

M Jones

(Monmouth)