I HAVE quietly viewed the trialling of a cycle path along Wildman Street at Kendal from a perfect vantage point - my shop, Burrells Newsagents on the corner of Longpool and Ann Street.

The proposal greatly concerns me, especially during rush hours, which cause large tailbacks up Shap Road, Station Road and Ann Street as cars struggle to converge from three lanes on to one lane along Wildman Street.

I cannot agree with Mr O’Neill (Letters, September 21) that the scheme is working. He states that cars are flowing freely past his business every day. But his business is right before the zebra crossing by which time the converging traffic has moved into the one lane. He is not seeing how long standing traffic is having to wait to get to that point.

What concerns me more, though, is the number of people that walk into and back from town along the pavement that has been designated to be widened to include a cycle path.

They do this because to walk on the other side of the road from, say, Sandylands or Shap Road, is dangerous due to no crossing outside Kendal Station and the County Hotel.

There are many children with and without parents who use this route going to and from Stramongate school. What happens if they stray into the cycle path?

Also I queried how emergency services would get through one lane unimpeded and was told vehicles can mount the pavements to let them through! This is an accident waiting to happen. You have to act quickly to get out of their way. Are you going to have time to think to look, to see whether a child or a cyclist is on that path?

There has already been a couple of near misses where a lady in an electric wheelchair was crossing Beezon Road and because the traffic is now only in one lane, had no idea a car was turning right into Beezon Road because they did not indicate. When the cars were in two lanes you could see if one was likely to turn right as they were in the right hand lane.

Finally I could count on less than one hand how many cyclists I see going down Wildman Street in a day. I could, quadruple, at least, the number of cyclists, that come the wrong way up Wildman Street on the pavement, cross Ann Street and continue on the pavement along Longpool every day.

I have nothing at all against cyclists, but I cannot see that the disruption and cost of turning Wildman Street into one lane ,which will increase traffic congestion at rush hours permanently, is warranted at all in this instance.

Hilary Knaggs

Owner, Burrells Newsagents