As a longstanding Wandsworth resident, I am writing to express my concern about a proposal to install Pro-Teq’s ‘Starpath’ system in Wandsworth Park to facilitate use of the park for commuters and cyclists during darkness hours.

Wandsworth Park is a grade II listed park that opened in 1903 and is widely admired for its Edwardian landscape including a splendid Riverside Walk lined by London plane trees.

It is this Riverside Walk that proposers are recommending to be treated with the Starpath system, which absorbs UV light by day which is then emitted at night, in effect lighting up the pathway.

Starpath has so far been installed only in a single park in Cambridge (in 2013) and the environmental impact and long term effects remain untested.

Wandsworth Park is a Site of Local Importance for biodiversity. Concerns remain about the effects on local flora and fauna in Wandsworth, particularly as there are barges moored adjacent to the park, that are widely used by a rich variety of birdlife.

This scheme will also encourage night time use of the park with attendant security risks and disruption of the peace and quiet of this lovely heritage park.

It is surely preferable and safer for cyclists and commuters at night-time to use well-lit Putney Bridge Road rather than to be vulnerable to the risks of assaults and crime in a park that is completely dark other than a single glowing pathway remote from the main road.

It might not entirely be a coincidence that 2014 has seen an escalation of crime in the Cambridge park trialling the new system with local police granted additional powers to remove unwanted elements from the park.

Dr Roopen Arya; Point Pleasant, Wandsworth

What do you think? Send your letter to: letters@wandsworthguardian.co.uk

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