THE arrival in Whitby of Bruce Kent and Dave Knight of CND on the last stage of their 300 mile Walk For The World from Faslane to Fylingdales, drew attention to the need for a public debate on the possible use of RAF Fylingdales as part of the US National Missile Defence programme.

NMD is a huge waste of resources and an environmental nightmare.

The Americans would never allow any of their national parks to be used for an NMD site. We should not allow them to use our National Park.

Our Government's line is that it is too early to raise such alarms until we know more about Washington's intentions. I disagree. We do not need to know all the details to be convinced that NMD is wrong in principle and we should tell the US we want no part of it here.

Christopher Dove,

Blackburns Yard, Whitby.

Updated: 10:16 Monday, August 13, 2001