I would like to respond to Mr Bell's ill-informed sideswipe at the young skaters, boarders and BMX riders of Cheddar in his letter to the paper last week.

I have met the gentleman who has "the thankless job of keeping the Cheddar Streets clean and tidy" and he is indeed a very nice chap.

He is however PAID by all of us to pick up after all those ignorant people that drop litter and whilst he is unusually responsive, many of us seek to exceed our customer's expectations – that doesn't deserve "hero status".

Maybe "hero" is too high an accolade to append to those who give hundreds of hours of their own time to enhance the lives of others – if that's your point Mr Bell I suggest you give up some hours of your own time to come up with an alternative expression.

To suggest that the problems caused by a small percentage of young people will move to the skate park shows your own ignorance of the facts. Government statistics show that where skate parks are installed, crime drops by up to 40 per cent!

The typical behaviour of young skaters, boarders and BMX riders is to bring a broom with them to keep their park clean and usable!

I would like to invite Mr Bell to meet with our Junior Local Action Team and experience at first-hand how the majority of Cheddar's young people are responsible young adults who will not tolerate any attempt by a small percentage of irresponsible losers to give their long awaited park a bad name.

I look forward to changing your stereotypical view Mr Bell.

Julian Sayer On behalf of The Cheddar Local Action Team Ltd