THE beach, upstream from the Pandora Inn, Restronguet, is a favourite spot for children to play while their parents enjoy a summer's evening drink on the nearby pontoon. Small dinghies and canoes also pull up on the beach and people are dropped from and picked up by the Falmouth water taxi when the tide is unsuitable for them to use the pontoon.

It is a portion of the cliff backing onto this beach which I have been trying to restore for the past two years, after a rock fall which brought down a two-ton boulder onto the very spot where I have seen children playing and adults sheltering from the rain. The cliff represents a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Your item last week headed "Efforts to save home would be an eyesore" was very misleading. The proposed work is intended not only to save the house from falling, but also to protect the many users of the beach. I have no intention of providing an eyesore in an area of outstanding natural beauty. My background is in nature conservation and I acted as an environmental consultant in Gloucestershire for many years.

The area to be stabilised lies mainly near the foot of the cliff and has little vegetation growing on it at present, due to its inherent instability. It is masked by overhanging branches of trees rooted higher up the slope. It is not intended to remove any of these, merely to cut them back sufficiently for the work to be carried out, allowing re-growth hopefully within a short time. Some understorey scrubby plants such as brambles and ivy will be cleared, but doubtless these will re-establish themselves very quickly.

In view of the landslips of recent weeks, landowners have been urged by the government to make potential danger spots safe. This is what I have been trying to do for the past two years, but have been prevented by Carrick planning office. Fortunately, at the planning committee meeting on Wednesday evening, sanity prevailed and planning permission was granted despite objections by one council officer. Hopefully within a short time users of this particular beach will be able to enjoy our beautiful surroundings in safety.

Mary Hopkins, Restronguet, Mylor