SIR - There is a lot of controversy being reported as a result of attempts to find alternative uses for the Guildhall.

Members of the public may well be confused as to why this is so, especially as they no doubt always assumed that the Guildhall was occupied by staff delivering council services to the public.

This was the position until the Tory cabinet moved almost all of them into expensive new offices in Farrier Street.

Most sensible people would imagine that this was part of a co-ordinated plan, and that it had been planned properly - instead of taking on new premises before possible uses for the vacated Guildhall had been discussed and agreed.

The result is more waste of council taxpayers' money paying for two properties - one of which is almost empty and has no really suitable alternative use. Do we all realise that the Tories are trying to get rid of the Guildhall as an embarrassing additional cost which need not have arisen? I value the Guildhall as an identifiable and historic centre of local government.

The occupation of the upper floor by an existing restaurant and the lower by a new coffee shop will have turned this graceful historic listed building into a cheap commercial enterprise unworthy of the city and its heritage.

The use of the ground floor by many charities for their bazaars and coffee morning as a valuable means of fund-raising will cease and we shall all be worse off for the loss of it.

COUNCILLOR ROB PEACHEY, Worcester.