In a recent letter to your paper a reader complained about the lack of consideration given to pedestrians at the corner of Waterside and Port Street. Firstly may I support these comments but go on to express my own growing concern at the failure of councils and agencies to show adequate consideration to pedestrians and cyclists in and around Evesham.

Walking around the town you feel a second class citizen. At pedestrian crossings you are forced to wait extremely long periods of time whilst the traffic management system tries to cope with the mess the planners made when reorganising the one way system. At only two of the five major traffic light controlled junctions in Evesham is proper provision made for pedestrians. How often are Bridge Street and the Market Square truly vehicle free zones? Many of the more recently constructed footpaths seem to take the pedestrian the long way round and the car the short option.

The pedestrian crossing in Davies Road near Alldays is a prime example as whichever route you are walking you have to double back to use it. At the bottom of Port Street why didn't someone have the brains to cantilever the replacement sign out over the footpath rather than obstruct an already narrow path with a large steel post! At the Little Chef roundabout pedestrians and cyclists alike take their lives in their hands trying to negotiate the pathetic provisions for them. Why didn't planners insist that adequate provision be made for those who wish to walk/ride.

And then the poor cyclists. Those bits of red tarmac at traffic lights are mere gestures.

Often you cannot reach these areas because you cannot get past stationary traffic. The two tiny sections of cycle lane (at the top of Greenhill and next to the Little Chef) are monuments to our magnificent planners. Then there is the frightening prospect, for all but the most daredevil cyclists, of trying to ride out into the countryside.

Many of the routes out of Evesham are along extremely busy main roads, the only exception being Badsey Lane. Even here the planners took the soft option and put a refuge in the middle of the bypass carriageway that presents a hazard to the motorist. Why not a footbridge?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the "powers that be" found the money and gave priority to building adequate cycle/footpaths alongside the roads leading out of Evesham as far as say Wickenford, Fladbury Cross, Cropthorne and Hinton on the Green

Glyn Hayter, Birch Avenue, Evesham.