Sir – I read with interest Mr Nutt’s letter last week about the state of Church Green in Witney, and would like to add that The Leys recreation ground is also becoming an eyesore.

Over the past few years the town council has shut the children’s paddling pool on the pretext that it is unsafe. They were supposed to replace it with a splash pool but nothing has happened yet, and now the crazy golf has been removed.

Both these areas are now looking rather derelict.

And in another letter (March 12) Marilyn Webb noted that The Leys was now being used for long-stay car parking and that this was dangerous, because inconsiderate people were parking by a bench and on the grass, thus narrowing the access for the people who need to get to their homes in The Springs, and also churning up the grass.

It seems that the council’s answer has been to remove the bench, not restrict the parking.

If the councils can restrict parking in the car parks, why can’t they do the same in this area?

There is a carved stone tablet in the wall, telling us that The Leys was purchased as a recreation ground in memory of those who fell in the First World War.

It would be nice if the council respected this and maintains it properly as a recreation ground, and does not turn it into a long-stay car park.

John Pearce, Colwell Drive, Witney