DEAR EDITOR - How re-assuring that thanks "on behalf of the people of Bromsgrove" have been extended, in a recently published letter, to Nick Psirides.

Thanks for the band-stand no-one wanted, the loss of pensioners' bus passes, the massive hike in council tax and parking charges (and the extension of "charged" time).

Thanks for the "deal" with Asda, the benefits of which (extra parking) have failed to materialise.

Thanks for a council condemned by watchdogs as financially incompetent, which took over from a council praised for its finances.

Thanks for the 300 jobs scrapped when the Recreation Ground re-development was scrapped, and the 300 lost with the closure of UEF.

On the plus side, as I forecast, "u-turns" on the cinema and bus passes have been made, and local improvements schemes are emerging.

It is purely co-incidental, of course, that the 12 month countdown to the election has begun.

Neil Godwin,

171 King George Close,

Bromsgrove.