Robin Orton: I don't think you meant that the way it reads - One of the glories of the UK is that "niceness" is not a condition of being able to learn to read and write, go to a swimming bath or a park!

On topic:

The long way round is a good half hour's walk with small children, quite strenuous in the steeper parts of that hill. I know - I've done it with shopping bags, and carrying a baby and heavy nappy bag. Not practical for very small legs (Eliot Bank and Holy Trinity being primary schools, the daily walk begins when they are 4 or 5 years old). "The Grand Old Duke of York" can only be sung so many times before it loses it's charm for all concerned! To add insult to injury, you can practically see your street through gaps in the fence, but know you still have a down and then a steep climb before you can reach it

The even longer way round is flatter, but so long that it doesn't really encourage walking at all. Those needing to get kids to school, or the doctor (many of us up here are allocated to Wells Park Practice) on time, will almost certainly find the journey easier by car. With schools, this raises issues for those living on Thorpewood Avenue, who no doubt view the extra school traffic, and parking in the area as "anti-social", ie: "not nice".

In this day and age of cameras, Community Support Officers, electronic gating systems, pin numbers etc, surely there must be some way of making a sensible route secure enough to placate the likes of IWereAbsolutelyFuming (who I assume has concerns I would sympathise with, if not their method of expressing them)

IWere.... : Is there anything you can suggest which could make such a short-cut acceptable to you?