UNFORTUNATELY, Brian Ashton and his Conservative colleagues do not seem to appreciate there is no overall control on the district council. No committee is controlled by a single party. If two groups combine, as the independents and Lib Dems did recently

UNFORTUNATELY, Brian Ashton and his Conservative colleagues do not seem to appreciate there is no overall control on the district council.

No committee is controlled by a single party. If two groups combine, as the independents and Lib Dems did recently at the Environment and Transport Committee, when discussing the car park, their combined strength will carry the day.

As the extension to the Fore Hill car park had not previously been discussed, no one had been authorised to approach the cathedral on behalf of the council.

Other ideas for car parking were, in fact, being discussed within the council at the time. The horrified reaction, both locally and nationally, indicates that Getty promise has not been forgotten. If the Cresswells car park is under-used and liable to flooding, should we not improve it and negotiate and extension to the lease?

Brian Ashton has many ideas, some good, others less so. None of them become council policy until they have been discussed and a vote has been taken. In a hung council, that is how democracy works.

JEREMY FRIEND SMITH

District councillor (Ely South)