WHY should Stanley Dodd, a resident of Catshill, feel that he has the authority to express the view that the residents of Rubery would be better off living in a Birmingham suburb?

His suggestion that a referendum should be held to decide the future status of Rubery comes a little late in the day as he has obviously forgotten that the Boundary Commission's proposal to extend the Birmingham spread to include Rubery was rigorously opposed by a huge majority of the residents.

In fact it was one of those few occasions that roused the most passive of people to involve themselves in the opposition to the incorporation of Rubery into Birmingham.

There is, of course, nothing to prevent Stanley Dodd and his friends from moving to Birmingham where they can enjoy the superior facilities and lower council tax they imagine exists over the border.

SCH, Rubery