Time has come for councillor to come out his ivory tower

Ernie White, leader of Blaby District Council, washes his hands of responsibility and plays the corporate blame game for not delivering the council's part of the bargain in past development. ("Council criticism was a little unfair", Mailbox, March 18).

Here in Thorpe Astley, we know the repercussions of passing the buck and blaming previous administrations.

The primary schools are full to bursting. Parents are told to take their children to Blaby.

Officials at County Hall sit tight-lipped as Holmfield School lays bulldozed ready for development.

The doctor's surgery closed with two weeks' notice, leaving patients to re-register at already over-stretched practices.

Yet we read over the weekend the developers had applied for £5 million of public money to fund a bridge into my community.

No mention of money up-front to provide a school or a new, fit-for-purpose surgery to address today's problems.

So how certain is Coun White that he can deliver his "advanced" plans?

His kind invitation to bring my neighbours over for a cuppa and to peruse the plans is noted.

My neighbours and I work hard, nine to five, and no doubt will prefer to express our views through the ballot box in May.

But I have a better suggestion for Ernie. Come out of the ivory towers of the council offices in Narborough, bring your officers, bring your advanced plans and bring the tea and biscuits with you.

Be open and transparent with the residents of Thorpe Astley, Leicester Forest East and Enderby about what is proposed and how it is going to be delivered.

Engage meaningfully with our communities, in our communities.

Ask us if what you plan is really what we want or is needed. Keep us informed and take the community with you on this journey. After all, I thought that was what was meant by the localism agenda.

Francis Holland, Thorpe Astley.

The most serious traffic problem in Leicestershire is the peak-hour congestion southbound on the M1 before Junction 21.

Standing or slow-moving traffic causes high air pollution levels.

Where the M1 passes under the similarly congested and polluted A47 Hinckley Road, in Leicester Forest East, pollution levels are consistently high enough for the area to be designated an "air quality management area".

The district council with responsibility for air pollution, Blaby, has predictably done nothing.

Congestion at Junction 21 is a classic "pinch point" and one solution to relieve the traffic would be the modified M1/M69 flyover plan.

But when the Government invited bids for local pinch point funding, Leicestershire Highways chose to bid, hand-in-hand with the Lubbesthorpe new town developers, to subsidise the M1 bridge accessing their development.

This will increase air pollution in Lubbesthorpe Way and surrounding major routes and do nothing for air pollution on the M1 and A47.

The priorities of Leicestershire Highways must be questioned – it chooses to promote a scheme increasing air pollution instead of one which will reduce it.

How was that decision made and how can it be justified?

Was this a political decision by the county council leadership? We should know how these perverse decisions are made.

Malcolm Fox, Leicester Forest East.