Whinging bullies

Complaining about misleading statistics is rich indeed coming from a Lib Dem councillor.

As a former resident of the old Foxwood Ward I was subjected to misinformation for years every time a Lib Dem Focus leaflet slipped through my letterbox - even more so at election time.

Now the boot is on the other foot the Lib Dems whinge and whine like the school bullies they are when challenged. The Lib Dems' response to the recent Labour surveys on evening parking and Respark charges typified their contemptuous attitude towards residents who had taken the bother to write about the issue.

So far, about 88 per cent of several hundred survey respondents have given an almighty "thumbs down" to the evening charges.

What is even more notable is that the highest response rate came from Coun Ann Reid's own Dringhouses and Woodthorpe ward.

Come off it Coun Cuthbertson, the people of York are well able to objectively analyse their experiences arising from the revised race traffic management arrangements.

Your pedantic criticism does nothing to enhance the debate on the matter which we all wish to see resolved as best as possible before next year's Ascot meeting on Knavesmire.

Coun David Horton,

Top Lane,

Copmanthorpe, York.

...I have been following the exchanges regarding the recent Ebor traffic management trial with interest.

City of York Council, the police and York and Ascot Racecourse Committees will continue to work closely to improve, enhance and finalise the traffic plan for Royal Ascot at York next year.

Clearly, we are not in a position to ban all race traffic from the city, as some of your readers have suggested.

Racing on the Knavesmire has played a major part in life in the city since 1731. We have to adapt our present transport system to deal with the sudden influx of race traffic and to mitigate its effect on the rest of the city.

Unfortunately, it is not practical to make major changes to the road structure simply to deal with 16 race meetings a year because the cost of making major changes is prohibitive.

For example, the estimated cost of building slip roads directly off the A64 to the racecourse is £4 million.

Therefore, we have to come up with a solution which makes the best use of the existing network.

The Ebor trial highlighted many successes, but it also showed areas that need more work.

We can only do this if we can gauge the experience of residents, racegoers and transport operators. Send your constructive comments in writing to: Jackie Wright, City of York Council, Environment and Development Services, Freepost YO239, York YO1 7ZZ.

Peter Evely,

Head of network management,

City of York Council,

St Leonard's Place, York.

Updated: 10:18 Saturday, August 28, 2004