IT is always a pleasure to receive a compliment such as those from Mrs L Baker (Your Letters, May 24).

However, it must be stated that the reason the previous district council was responsible in no small measure for making Malvern and it's surrounding district the second most desirable place in the country to live in was the shared vision and unity of purpose it displayed.

Regrettably that spirit has been frittered away in a self-indulgent orgy of navel gazing and recrimination by former colleagues on both the district and town council regarding the departure of Stuart McDonagh. Before all the good work of former administrations is wasted, may I make a heartfelt pleas for them to look forward and confine this whole sorry saga to the dustbin of history.

Despite the call to arms of Adrian Ward for a maximum attendance at the annual parish meeting to discuss the issue, less than 50 members of the public turned up. It really has become a minority sport.

In conclusion I very much doubt I will become actively involved again until such time as the two warring factions bury the hatchet and preferably not in each other.

Let us look to the future and not the past.

CLIVE SMITH, Greenfields Road, Malvern Link