WHILE not necessarily subscribing to the agenda promoted by the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, we agree with Steve Clements (Letters, April 15) that St Peter's School has consistently used the fear-of-crime technique to advance its arguments for closure of this footpath.

It was only after the anniversary of the Dunblane incident, which the school sought shamelessly to exploit - a tactic which was so roundly condemned in the Evening Press leader column and elsewhere - that it appeared to be at all concerned.

The unprecedented length of the inquiry was a reflection of the number of expert witnesses which the school felt it necessary to call to justify its case, and the need of people from the community to cross-examine them and, if possible, undermine their evidence. Whether we have been able to do so remains to be seen.

Not only were objectors fighting the school, in the end they were fighting the council as well, both bodies able to draw on financial and expert resources quite beyond the objectors' means, the council using taxpayers' money to do so.

Our view has always been that with adequate security measures and suitable supervisory and disciplinary policies in place, many of the incidents which the school alleges have been intolerable could have been avoided.

What has been perhaps the most revealing aspect of this whole affair is the refusal of St Peter's to engage in any sort of dialogue with the local community to try and see if a possible solution to the alleged problems could be found without closing the path in perpetuity. But, of course, it was not in the school's interest to do so.

The matter is now in the hands of the inspector.

Our thanks to all those who made their objections known and thereby contributed to our campaign.

Philip Crowe,

Chair, Clifton Path Action Group,

Clifton,

York.

Updated: 09:51 Monday, April 24, 2006