AS chairman of the board of directors of Williamson Park Ltd, I wish to provide readers with a better insight into what Williamson Park Ltd is and how it views the future.

Williamson Park Ltd was set up by, and is fully owned by, Lan-caster City Council. It is charged with ope-rating the visitor attractions around the Ashton Memorial.

The company is one of Lancaster's success stories. It has taken seriously its duties to the people of Lancaster and has endeavoured to give the best service at the best possible price.

Since taking over the operation of the at-tractions 15 years ago, the company's subsidy from the city council has reduced in real terms. Despite this, the caf is still one of the cheapest places to eat in the city and the entrance fee to the attractions is still one of the lowest in the North-West.

When the company started operating, it had the butterfly house and caf to work with. Since that time, it has added the mini beast house, bird enclosure, small mammals sec-tion, art gallery, anala-memtic sundial, bug hunt, orienteering and maths trails - and developed the terrace.

Now, Williamson Park Ltd has put forward a business plan to be considered by the city council, based on a vision that Williamson Park is to develop into a centre of horticultural excellence that will attract visitors from all over the world.

In order to achieve this vision the company is proposing that it be given control of all aspects of the park.

Too often the company has been blamed for poor footpaths, failing to replace old planting and the lack of general maintenance.

Any stories about the new business plan costing Lancaster taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds are misinformation, and anyone who reads the plan properly will realise the core of the proposals is a reduction in financial support from the city.

If successful, then it is possible Williamson Park may be comp-letely self-funding.

Cllr Shirley Burns,

Chairman,

Williamson Park Ltd