Change of heart

SIR, — Harpenden Rovers FC applied to the town council for permission to use the picnic area on the Common as overflow parking for a football tournament in June 2008. At the February 20 Environment Committee meeting the request was refused. Organisers of

SIR, - Harpenden Rovers FC applied to the town council for permission to use the picnic area on the Common as overflow parking for a football tournament in June 2008.

At the February 20 Environment Committee meeting the request was refused.

Organisers of the Classics on the Common asked the town council to reverse their 2007 decision and permit spectator parking on the same picnic area for the July 30 event.

At the June 11 Environment Committee meeting the town council reversed last year's decision and agreed to allow spectator parking on the Common - in addition to participants' parking in the area traditionally spoiled by visiting fairgrounds and circuses.

This news was conveyed by the warden to the forty or so local residents who attended the annual Common Walk last week. I asked if this is a change of policy. He said no, it's "a change of heart".

When does a policy become a heart, and is there a heart to the town council's environmental policies?

ROBERT HILL

East Common, Harpenden.