OH dear, what a hysterical outburst from ex-Hallow Council Chairman Dean Clark over my views on what's logically the only feasible solution to Worcester's traffic problems - coincidentally, a view wholeheartedly backed by the city and county councils' consultants Colin Buchanan and Partners who also take the view that the most effective remedy to Worcester's congestion is the completion of the Western Orbital Route.

I'm no traffic expert, but when it comes to banking and business, I know my stuff - and easing our chronic congestion must be seen as the most critical factor in encouraging and in some cases saving our local shops and businesses from further decline.

I also have it on the best authority that the road in question could be built without endangering the landscape and certainly not endangering Hallow. Remember pre-Southern Link days? Councillor Ron Carrington fought tooth and nail to get money from Whitehall and took a lot of flak because it had to be a single carriageway or nothing. Where would we be today without it ?

I confess I find it curious that the ex-Chairman of Hallow Parish Council - co-opted, and as such unelected, of course - should accuse me of having being rejected by voters when I won two elections and lost the third by a mere 7 votes on a recount. What have you done Mr Clark? You reported in the Parish magazine that you eventually persuaded contractors to clear the overgrowth on the footpath from Hallow Church towards Worcester. The footpath was actually widened by the addition of more tarmac!

I have a catalogue of issues I could also take up with Mr Clark - not least his claims that I am ignoring the views of my ward members in Broadheath and St Peters Parish and also his support for Regional and Sub-Assemblies that will eventually take power away from the districts in favour of an unelected West Midlands Regional Planning Assembly. But I refuse to be dragged down to such a level.

COUNCILLOR AUBREY TARBUCK,

Mayor of Worcester and Councillor for St Peter's Parish and Broadheath.