Letter to the editor: Upon reading that the Dartford’s Kids Safe scheme has celebrated 10 successful years ensuring young children’s safety, I cannot help but wonder if other councils should take a leaf out of Dartford Council’s book and implement the same scheme in other areas.

Parents all over the nation are growing increasingly concerned about their children’s safety and whereabouts on a day out, and it is a relief to know that there is a scheme that can help alleviate this worry, while also making children feel secure and reducing their anxieties if they do get lost.

It helps one sleep at night to know that there is a network of people in your local shopping centre and the surrounding area who have your child’s best interests at heart.

I am stunned that even after 10 years, Dartford is the only area in which this simple yet effective scheme is run. Surely if it is so successful, it would be an investment worth making? I wonder if the lack of action to implement the scheme is due to other areas simply not having the financial means to support it, or whether it needs the public to take the initiative and bring it up to their local council themselves.

Either way, I strongly believe that the benefit of knowing that your child is safe in a crowded, hectic area rather outweighs the financial dent it might make in the council’s pocket.

BILL NORMAN, Dartford