We will start at Hospital Bridge Road, junction with Nelson Road.

The footpath is very narrow. It is well used by children going to schools in both directions and it shows! Elm saplings that long ago gave in to Dutch Elm disease hold back a bank of soil covered in grass and quantities of litter.

Further along this road you will arrive at a footbridge. Again, used by children both very young and up to senior level. The graffiti is so congested I doubt you could find room for any more.

Some of the words used must embarrass the mothers with very young children as they walk past.

This has been there for years, even though I have reported it to the council on many occasions.

Needless to say this area is never swept and in warm weather smells strongly of wine!

After the school we come to the cemetery with its boundary hedge of Hawthorn, Holly etc, which hasn't been cut this year, and is so overgrown that, in places it takes over two thirds of the pavement.

It is also a haven for anything that blows along, including takeaway food containers, sweet bags, newspapers, bottles and empty cans.

As I do this walk several times a week, I can guarantee no broom has been near it for months.

Next we cross the road, still on the same side, at the traffic lights junction Percy Road and pass a bus shelter with a bench near it at St Augustine's Church. Now this stage must be a busy one because you can see more litter around it, which blows into the grounds of the church. Needless to say there is not a bin in sight.

On we go over the footbridge which crosses the Chertsey Road. On the down-side of the bridge by the school playing fields you have great difficulty getting off the bridge because of the very invasive weeds growing right across the exit.

Now we are just on the pavement as it crosses the river Crane. You cannot see them but there are four signs on two poles. Two are warning signs for motorists. One indicates a sharp left-hand bend. The other shows a 30 mph sign. Why can't motorists see them? Because the branches of the trees cover them completely.

This road, and service road by its side, are covered in weeds in the kerb, as are the cracks between the paving stones.Is this why the council calls Richmond a 'green' borough? Naturally nothing has been done to this area for months.

Now we must be very careful as we cross at the lights by the Fountain pub. Residents have been asking for a pedestrian phase at this set of traffic lights but, we are told, it will cost £100,000 and, as yet, the council cannot afford it!

Never mind, near the end of Six Cross Road, workmen have extended the pavement at the junction of Fielding Avenue right into the road.

They have been at work on it for more than two weeks and are so proud of their work they are doing the same at the next road junction. What is it for? Does it help traffic flow? What do you think?

One thing you must believe though, its for free, because the council doesn't have any money.

Can anyone tell me what the council does with our money? They don't spend any on the aforementioned.

S G LAURSEN

Nelson Road

Whitton