'For two weeks running you have carried photographs of three rows of tables and chairs on the west pavement of Jewry Street as if to demonstrate that they can pose no problem for pedestrians. (One photo even carried a picture of our MP with arms outstretched - remember Monty Python's Ministry for Silly Walks?).

However, there are no signs of customers sitting at those tables or of waiters attending to them - hardly surprising during a rainswept winter. Of course pushchairs and the visually impaired will be able to get past in those conditions. But it's a very different story in summer. 

While outdoor chairs and tables add to the animation of the city and should be permitted where feasible, it is a fact that the plight of pedestrians is systematically ignored in Winchester. Take the very beginning of the South Downs Way, outside the National Trust Mill in Bridge Street. Anyone wanting to walk the Way and cross over to the Weirs has to take their life in their hands. There is no indication whatever to drivers that there will be pedestrians regularly trying to cross there. 

It's high time pedestrians were given greater priority and cars - and businesses - required to take them properly into account.

Mrs A Wilkinson,

Eastgate Street,

Winchester