I WRITE in reply to TC of Windle about use of the greenbelt. I couldn’t disagree with him more.


He claims that Warrington, by building wholesale over farmers’ fields, has made the town more prosperous. 


On the contrary, the policy is an object lesson in how not to do town planning.


By building further and further out, they have created soulless waste lands, only fit to drive through, and condemned the town centre to slow decline. 


Warrington is not the only town to have fallen into the same trap: it is common throughout the North West.


Such a policy is based on the belief that car access is the only thing that matters.


Now we know that we have to change. Climate change is upon us.

The roads are grid-locked with traffic. Side roads are often impassable because of parked cars. 


And our towns and cities are boarded up as the big retailers head for lower rates on bleak out-of-town shopping centres.


In fact, St Helens Council has hit on ways to reverse that trend. 


The new luxury flat developments hopefully will bring into the town people who have money to spend in town-centre shops. The council is investing in the shopping centre.


Money is being spent on leisure attractions, such as the new skate park. These are hopeful signs. We cannot continue in the old way of thinking about town planning. 


People should have the opportunities to shop and work and socialise locally; building on the outskirts is absolutely the wrong way to go.


Lorna Lyst, Newton