COUNCILLOR Bill Chapple (Letters, May 25) rejects the idea that he is 'more interested in votes than the protection of the countryside in Buckinghamshire'.
Although he attributes this wide accusation to me, my suggestion (Letters, May 11) was a more limited one, namely that Conservative Party pro-farmer prejudice was behind the lethargy with which Bucks County Council has been reopening public paths closed for foot and mouth.
Moreover it was directed against the Conservative majority on the council not at Mr Chapple individually, as he seems to suppose. However, if the cap fits, Mr Chapple, by all means wear it.
But no amount of outrage on Mr Chapple's part can hide the facts, namely that to close the paths the council employed a small army of bill posters and acted with decisiveness and expedition; when it came to reopening them, the council has been reluctant, hesitant and muddled.
Moreover, as Mr Trevor Lawson from Amersham correctly pointed out in a letter printed immediately above Mr Chapple's, the council has ignored the official advice on what paths it was and was not safe to reopen. Was this incompetence or prejudice or something of both?
Chris Hall
Telfer's Cottage, Turville
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