YOUR Letters page of October 29 was full of items lifting my spirits with positive attitudes for the future of Herefordshire – including two columns by young people, welcoming the development change can bring, a letter putting forward some advantages of good planning, and Jesse Norman's report on the open meeting to hear the consultant engaged by the council to report on museums and resources.

I trust the councillors present at that meeting found the public response as heartening as I did and make use of involving constituents at this early stage.

By contrast, there are plans on the council website for traffic 'calming' on Holme Lacy Road (www.herefordshire.gov.uk/holmelacyroadscheme). Those plans seem firmly in place yet I am very concerned that I knew nothing about them or the public consultation day on October 22.

However good the intentions, no matter if £400,000 has to be spent before the end of the year, surely something is wrong if I am not alone in feeling enraged?

Please, councillors, this financial crisis demands new ways to order our priorities. We waste too much time and money on controversy. Schemes need to be soundly based with broad public support.

BARBARA FERRIS Dinedor