A DISGRUNTLED Julian Head, of Newton Abbot, writes:

I was very disappointed to read the story concerning the diversion of funds from the planned sports hub at Kingsteignton to other projects and the kicking of the velodrome project into the long grass like the political football it is.

It is a shame that to get anything meaningful done in this area we have to bow to the 'great god of housing'. In Teignbridge housing and the motorist are king.

As a local athletics club helper and participant in events throughout southern England, I know how desperately needed these sports facilities are.

More unsettling is the ease with which Cllr Walters appears to have given up on this project. At least his predecessor, Cllr Smith, had a dream. This dream now appears to have been taken by the Tories in County Hall and trampled on.

What I would like to ask Cllr Walters is: Was the £10m airport money there in the first place? Which black hole will this money now be sucked into? Was there a deal with KREAG to see that this essential sports project was kicked into touch? Who came up with the various feasibility studies (hopefully not the same people who told Cllr Tuckett that a velodrome and an athletics track together were unsustainable!).

What plans do the local Tories now have for the piles of rubble either side of the clay pits road leading towards Newcross?

I will probably be able to take my grand children there in years to come, point to the piles of rubble and tell them 'back in 2010 that land was almost put to very good use'.

The funds will probably be diverted to Exeter, where the local councillors have a go ahead attitude and are not hamstrung by NIMBYs (not in my back yards). You only have to ask what happens to the National Cycle network when it reaches Teignbridge... answer it disappears, and please don't say that the pitiful cycle lane on the A380 towards Kingsteignton constitutes a cycle network.

I also note that Cllr Smith says that this was not something he was making up to get re-elected, I would have thought that his efforts in promoting the track would see to it that he wasn't re-elected as it is not a vote winner in his particular ward.

And before KREAG start writing in with their inevitable character assassination of me, please can they stop referring to Kingsteignton as a poor little village held at the mercy of property developers.

Kingsteignton – it is now officially a town – almost certainly ceased to be a village in all but name in the 1980s when the Rydon Estate and Sandygate Mill areas were developed. Some local historians will probably correct me and say that the 'de-villagisation' goes back even further that.

When these local councillors are sitting at their sports awards dinners celebrating local talent, I hope they reflect on the fact that what our local sports people achieve has been through a local network of, mainly voluntary, coaches wrestling with very poor facilities.

Please councillors, remember that any achievements have been despite and not because of the local council.

As I was looking through the county council website, I noted that they are preparing to welcome the cycling tour of Britain to Devon.

It is a pity that they are not as accommodating with our local cyclists!