I HAVE had a few letters printed in the Marlow Free Press lately and would like to give readers an update.

On August 21, I wrote attacking plans to introduce genetically-modified foods into the UK.

If the Government introduces a three-year moratorium, it will be a step in the right direction.

I wrote last week about the possibility of some pedestrianisation occurring in Marlow. Through confines of space, my letter was slightly abridged. The missing paragraph may be of interest: "I visited York a few years ago and I believe that its shopping area was closed to traffic from 10am to 4pm, seven days a week. The town centre was very busy and shopping was nearly a pleasure. It should be noted, though, that this system allows complete access for traffic for three-quarters of any day with a ban operating for a quarter of each day."

Also in last week's letter, I may have got the wrong end of the stick by commenting on the previous week's MFP article on Marlow market entitled "Traders' land hopes dashed".

It now appears that the land is likely to be converted into car parking spaces, but on Wednesdays and Saturdays the land will be leased to the market.

As long as "the price is right" the market should be safe, but let's keep our fingers crossed!

Two weeks ago, I wrote a long letter defending the Marlow Millennium Consortium (MMC) and its attempts to provide Marlow's population with a swimming pool that the majority of them could use and be proud of.

Last week, Mr Kingsbury wrote asking me about the membership of the MMC and how the project's funding had changed.

Rather than quote many paragraphs of minutes relevant to these and other relevant matters, I will invite Mr Kingsbury to the next MMC meeting where, subject to the chairman's permission, Mr Kingsbury will be able to ask his questions. At that time, I, or other members of the MMC, will be happy to provide him with the answers he needs.

Five weeks ago, I wrote listing a string of criticisms aimed at the ruling Conservative group which currently runs Buckinghamshire County Council. Since then, district councillor David Coe has also criticised their antics and received a sharp response through the BFP letters page.

However, I note that none of my critical points, which included the excessive cost of adult education and the decimation of positive active archaeology in Buckinghamshire, have been answered by any Bucks County Councillor.

Can we assume that these criticisms were, therefore, wholly justified and the perpetrators are writing out their resignation letters as we speak?

As I have had a few letters printed lately, I will now put my pen down for a while.

No doubt this will allow Bill Purdie to write more and longer letters to entertain not only Maurice Oram, but all your other readers!

John Laker

(Green Party, MTCF and

MMC member,

Marlow resident

and general busybody)

Spinfield Lane

Marlow

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.