DEAR EDITOR - I have yet to meet anyone, whether it be in the High Street in Bromsgrove or in outlying areas such as Rubery, who supports the proposal of spending £50,000-plus on a bandstand.

However, the people I have met do support the reinstatement of free bus passes for Bromsgove's senior citizens and no further hikes and restrictions on parking in Bromsgrove.

They want a caring council, one with compassion and vision and a leadership that cares about the local economy.

Those expectations were nowhere in sight at last Tuesday's full council meeting where the Tories forced through fifty thousand pounds to develop the unwanted bandstand.

The Tories refused the desired reinstatement of free bus passes for Bromsgrove senior citizens. They showed no compassion towards the victims of flooding by refusing to give them a 'one off' 50 per cent cut in their community tax. They would not even replace a burnt out dustcart with an environmentally friendly version.

They preferred to purchase a known polluting vehicle.

As regards the local economy the leader refused to join Labour in making a public statement that the council would not change the status of the land UEF (formally Garringtons) owns, from industrial to land for housing. Such a statement would help protect local employment and would undermine the ambitions of housing vultures.

Bromsgrove is a rich council. It can afford to spend every year over a hundred thousand pounds on a severely under-used museum which would serve Bromsgrove better if it went to Avoncroft.

It has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on a small stretch of road that fronts the Conservative Office and tens of thousands of pounds on a walkway in Sanders Park. Over four hundred and forty thousand pounds in one year has been lost in housing rent arrears and benefit overpayments because of the council's incompetence.

Finally the bandstand. Someone should inform the Leader of the council, that it is Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee we are celebrating not 'Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Peter McDonald,

Leader of the Labour Group,

Bromsgrove District Council.

(by e-mail)