Sir, – I have been following the recent correspondence in relation to the state and management of Farnham Park with interest. I'm afraid I do not recognise the depressing state of the park depicted by the two most recent correspondents and I certainly think a lot of the criticism aimed at the lack of management is incorrect and ill-judged. The golf course and cricket ground along with the football pitches and their associated facilities are well used and very well kept. I have no idea where the "derelict" children's play area, J White refers to, is. There are two play areas in the lower area of the park that are, again, well used and well maintained. My wife and I use them both with our young daughter and have never had a problem. I use the park for up to two hours a day, walking my dog and probably know as much about the day-to-day activities in the park and general use as anyone else in the area. I don't believe the park is under-utilised; there are legions of dog walkers out and about (the vast majority very conscientious owners who clear up after their pets and can often be seen clearing up other people's litter) from sunrise to sunset, lots of runners, walkers and picnickers all year round, and many others using the park as a relaxing cut through to get to work and then back home. At the current time, I think the rangers have got the balance between pro-active management and keeping areas of the park as special "wild" places about right. Even with their excellent work, ironically the worst damage 1 have witnessed to the sensitive higher grasslands have been deep ruts and cut up paths from rangers unnecessarily (with the exception of aggregate deliveries) driving to central areas on management projects to construct gravel pathways or clear undergrowth. The majority of the work requires little more than a couple of spades, saws or scythes and the target areas could be easily reached with a five-to-10-minute walk from the main car park. The majority of the other problems in the park tend to centre on petty vandalism and damage to trees and plants, which coincidentally has a depressing correlation with school holidays, and littering from the ill-educated and "don't care" minority who use the paths as a paper trail. These are manageable problems and are often countered by the care and concern of the regular users of the park. The worst thing that could happen to Farnham Park is that it becomes over-managed with every path ending up covered with Tarmac or gravel, car parks everywhere and so formalised that dog walkers are not allowed to unleash their dogs, all ponds ending up fenced off and existing woodlands and wild areas cleared to allow "more access". Farnham Park is a huge asset for this town. It's actually in a good state as far as I am concerned. The birds and wildlife love it, local residents love it and it is used a lot. Let's not ruin it through ill-thought-out "improvements".

Chris Hunter, Osborn Road, Farnham