I have recently received a copy of a letter of the Tauranga City Council.

The proposal is to upgrade Cheyne Park, which is just off Montana Drive (off Cheyne Road). The main concern here is that they plan to demolish a perfectly good home in order to provide better access to a park which has perfectly good access at present!

At the same time, we constantly hear about the huge homeless situation in Tauranga.

I am totally gobsmacked about this ludicrous decision by the council to demolish a perfectly good family home in a good area, probably worth around $750000, in order to access a small park in an area that mostly has elderly residents.

Another fact is that there is a much bigger park quite close by in an area that has many more young families.

At best, what can be done if more access is required is that a walkway can be created on the side of the house that they plan to demolish and it will still be available to house a family.

At a time when our council has huge debts and have been proposing a huge rate increase, I find this decision to go ahead with this plan totally unacceptable and ridiculous.

With the current financial crisis in the whole world, can this be a priority that rate payers have to pay for?

I am writing this letter to you as I feel that the Tauranga ratepayers need to know what our council is up to in our city

Doug High, Pyes Pa