John E MitchelL, of Manor View, Bradley Vale, Newton Abbot, writes:

I read the short article in last week's edition of your paper with some illusions of hope, but I regret to inform you that those illusions were sadly dashed as soon as I got to the second paragraph.

It appears that Devon County Council has secured itself a pot of money to be spent on 'sustainable transport schemes' and Cllr Hughes, who you describe as highways supremo (somewhat over-enthusiastic, I feel) is the man charged with investing this money on our behalf.

In these times of continued restrictions on public spending it is increasingly important that any money raised locally or obtained from central government or other sources is spent wisely, carefully and efficiently for the all-round benefit of the population it is meant to help.

However, here we have a man who is proud to announce that he will be spending more than £3 million on telling people to go by bus, telling parents not to take their children to school by car, advising people to use a bicycle and promoting the long-dead car-share scheme. Neither wise, careful or efficient in my view.

Mr Hughes enthuses: 'By encouraging these alternatives we are able to manage our highway network more effectively.'

I have news for you, Mr Hughes, as far as Newton Abbot is concerned the highway network has never been managed, it is totally out of date, it lacks any medium or long-term planning and it will only get worse as Teignbridge Council continues its policy of housing development in order to gain more government funding.

However, I do have an idea that will cut car usage. Give up your job so that you don't have to go to work, then you can educate your children at home in order to avoid the school run.

You won't be able to afford a car so you will have no alternative but to use the bus, so it's a good job that bus service improvements are included in the scheme.

There, that didn't take anywhere near £3 million, did it?

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