Madam, I felt obliged to write in following yet another article in last week's paper regarding objections to the planned housing development in Lea. Prior to last week's article there had been a letter linking concerns about the development's proximity to the school with the horrific grooming and abuse scandal in Rotherham, and then last week an article appears, yet again making the link between houses near schools and the safety of children. As a parent of children whose school playing field has always been overlooked by houses, and with many years experience of working with young people being sexually exploited, I find this alleged concern completely without basis. Are the protestors against this development really saying that anyone buying a house within it is going to be a paedophile, spending many thousands of pounds on a house to enable them to watch children playing? Is everyone who lives near a school now under suspicion? All the evidence and research shows us that children are far more at risk of abuse from within their own families or from those who are in a job or role which gives them unsupervised access to children. There may be valid reasons for the refusal of this development but this is not one of them and I therefore hope that council officers ignore such scaremongering and make their decisions based on facts, not false fear.

Mrs Sam Punn, Ross