Surface is flat for wheelchairs

TODAY I went on the Grand Pier and saw signs banning food and drink being taken onto the pier. I always loved taking my dad to the pier with sandwiches and a flask. While I do not object to buying food on the pier, I object to paying for tea in a paper cup with cake wrapped in polythene. With the emphasis on saving our planet is it too much to have tea from cups and saucers and cakes on crockery? All cafes I go to in Weston do this. The pier is often the only place disabled and pensioners can go and rest because they can walk from seat to seat, the surface is flat for wheelchairs and there is no traffic noise. It was my dad's favourite place when nice music was played. Pensioners especially enjoyed throwing bits of their lunch to the birds, or their chips to the seagulls. I fully expect a dog ban on the pier and perhaps removal of seats, to be replaced by money-making deckchairs. Pensioners and disabled cannot use deckchairs but spend money on holidays here. With the Marine Lake looking like a building site after at least six months, food bans on the pier and no swimming pool, day trippers and holiday makers will go elsewhere and Weston folk will vote with their feet by boycotting the pier. What a sad state of affairs at the beginning of a holiday season.PATRICIA HEANEY - Garsdale Road, Milton