UNTIL my late wife Vera contracted dementia and died earlier this year we walked together almost every day in Royden Park.

I now continue to visit the park although I now walk alone.

Although, with the friendly park staff and the volunteers running the famous 'Barking Mad' tea bar, one is never really alone at Royden.

I therefore think it is a great shame that the council are to 'tax' our access to Royden Park in particular for, unlike other country parks in Wirral, there is no direct bus service to Royden.

So for many it will be a case of 'pay up or stay away.'

We all know about Government cut backs but there must surely be a more appropriate way to raise funds locally.

Rambling organisations and the medical profession, quite correctly, urge us all to walk each day in order to stay healthy, and the Ramblers' Association has, quite correctly, campaigned for open access to mountains and moorland for years.

It is sad no real high-profile campaign has been mounted to deal with such restriction on our access to the countryside.

David Hollet, Greasby