• I SEE that Islington’s executive member for environment, air quality and transport, Councillor Rowena Champion, responded to previous letters expressing disappointment at the length of time the New River Walk “improvement” works have taken.

In particular I note her statement (For a greener New River Walk, August 11): “The New River was full of silt after years of build-up from overhanging trees which, along with the faulty pump system, resulted in poor quality water with little support for aquatic wildlife.”

I have no idea who gave her this information – presumably she never actually walked the path herself – but can assure her that before the work began there was a shoal of lovely fish in the water, possibly grass carp, helping to keep the water clean, a happy colony of moorhens (21 at my last count before the walk’s closure), mallards, a variety of other wildlife, all thriving and multiplying. Hardly evidence of “little support”, wouldn’t you say?

The parts that were eventually opened to the public during May and June were depressingly barren, the waterway edges built up so that access to nests from the water will be more difficult for the birds, litter hurled into the depleted undergrowth along the railings, and water devoid of the slightest sign of greenery.

Cllr Champion’s faith in nature’s ability to “bounce back” is touchingly naive, I feel, and I shall certainly be monitoring progress weekly once (if?) the walk is open again.

JOANNA BARTON
Bevan Street, N1