Skmal exedila
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Your article "Busmen help Welsh parks" (CM, October 6) gave considerable prominence to the exceptionally successful Snowdon Sherpa bus service in the Snowdonia National Park.
While I appreciate the excellent work done by Crosville Motor Services Ltd, I am nevertheless concerned that the article, and some of the comments by B. G. Noton, misplace much of the credit for the project.
The service, from its initial concept, has been jointly promoted by Gwynedd County Council and Crosville. In the past two years it has been directed by a working party which also included represen tatives of the Snowdonia National Park and the Countryside Commission as part of a larger National Park management scheme.
Mr Noton is quoted as saying that the first year's service was done entirely off Crosville's own bat and without any support. However, in the first year the service was jointly agreed with and supported by the County Council. In that year the County Council handled, and paid for, the preparation of all publicity material and distributed the bulk of it. In subsequent years this work has been shared by the County Council and the National Park.
The innovatory timetable praised in the article was de vised by the National Park publicity officer and Crosville's involvement with production and siting of roadside signs was limited to commenting on a design and approving their siting.
The spadework of design, production and erection was carried out and paid for by the three other parties involved in the scheme.
As part of a wider National Park management experiment, the Sherpa bus service is now financially guaranteed by the Countryside Commission. It is true to say that were it not for this support the service could not have developed to be "the jewel in the company's crown" it now is.
Crosville's role, when put in this context, has been primarily that of an operator closely in
volved in a scheme from the outset. While it is true that
without Crosville the Snowdon Sherpa project could not have achieved its current success, it is