I ATTENDED the Local Plan Forum at Grappenhall Cricket Club last Tuesday and one of the main concerns of the residents was infrastructure.

In his opening remarks Cllr Bowden blamed the infrastructure mess we currently have on the New Town Development Corporation stating that they failed to finish the job.

This is untrue. For instance it was the council who vetoed the extension of Birchwood Expressway which would have continued from its current termination on Orford Road through to Westbrook.

If we examine history the council has failed on a number of instances on the provision of infrastructure.

For example when the Centre Park bridge was constructed every man and his dog questioned why this did not link onto Slutchers Lane as a means of bypassing Bridge Foot.

The Centre Park Link merely duplicates this concept several hundred metres to the south.

Then there was the Westbrook traffic lights debacle and its huge cost to ratepayers.

Is it any wonder we have no confidence in the council’s ability to get the infrastructure right for the massive developments proposed in the local plan?

MIKE WILLIAMS Stockton Heath