I AM one of those who have been accused by the mayor of St Ives of misleading members of Action Corn Exchange (ACE). That absurd allegation has not been retracted nor has there been an apology. Furthermore, at the time the allegation was made the mayor an

I AM one of those who have been accused by the mayor of St Ives of misleading members of Action Corn Exchange (ACE). That absurd allegation has not been retracted nor has there been an apology.

Furthermore, at the time the allegation was made the mayor and her colleagues were planning their own way of omitting some uncomfortable facts from town council records. In future, questions from members of the public, which are asked at the start of town council meetings, will be excluded from the minutes of those meetings. Vitally, this means the answers will also be omitted. Furthermore, I believe the right to ask questions at sub committee meetings is being withdrawn completely.

This unfortunate course of action seems to have been caused by the persistent use of questions by members of ACE. However, other matters do get raised.

For instance, following a protracted spate of criminal damage in the area close to my home, I took a piece of a thrice-vandalised council notice board to a meeting in February. I asked for councillors to come and see all the damage that had occurred in the preceding 12 months. The mayor and the acting town clerk came and I introduced them to one old lady who had in the past visited the Town Hall to complain about earlier incidents. As a result of the mayor's visit and direct representations by me to Police HQ in Huntingdon, action to try to curb the problem was taken, with a large measure of success.

The new notice board for Ramsey Road/Kings Hedges that was promised in February and stated at the Town Meeting in April to be "soon" has still not been installed. I was forced to resort to using a sub committee in July, because the Mayor would not allow me to ask two questions at the main meeting, despite the fact that only one other matter was raised.

Politicians, regardless of party, cannot be allowed to be selective about what they record. Questions are always likely to be a nuisance but they are usually important to members of the electorate.

COLIN SAUNDERSON

St Ives Liberal Democrats

Cedar Road

St Ives