I AM not really a fan of the plans to restore the Lion Salt Works in Marston and open it as a ‘working museum and conference centre’.

My experience of projects such as this is that these buildings become far too sanitised and so removed from the original as to become almost worthless.

You can bet your life there will be loads of audio-visual displays and not much salt. I would also query the value of spending £8million on buildings that were designed to be ephemeral and should have been knocked down at the end of their working life.

I think in the current climate, there are many more projects where that kind of money could have had a much greater impact. Having said that, I also understand there are many people who believe that this is a very worthwhile project and will protect a significant part of Northwich’s salt history.

That’s fair enough and I can well understand the public support for the restoration plans.

But what I can’t understand is the blasé and cavalier attitude to road safety displayed by the planners who gave this scheme the go ahead.

The bridge over the canal next to the salt works is so narrow, you can only just fit two normal cars over side by side. You certainly can’t get a lorry or a coach over at the same time as other vehicles and because it is a humped-back bridge, drivers can’t see what’s coming.

If the museum is as successful as its supporters hope it’s going to be, the volume of large vehicles using an old, narrow canal bridge is surely going to grow massively. In my opinion, this provides the classic circumstances for an accident waiting to happen.

To grant permission for the salt works without paying due regard to a safe road access is folly at best and irresponsible at worst.

ERIC GREEN Davenham