I SUPPOSE the glib single sentence response to the personal attack mounted against me by Keith Phillips (Your Letters, July 14) would be to point out to him that if I did not take a blind bit of notice of my constituents' views they would not have re-elected me at every council election I have stood in since 1979.

The fact is we do listen and what the electorate has been telling us is that they want improved services and facilities, such as the soon to be opened Dysons sports hall, at a revenue cost of £50,000 per annum, to name but one example.

However, they want this done without any more inflation-busting council tax rises. This we have achieved through various means, such as our senior management review, toilet closures, and the imposition of car parking charges in the evenings.

Incidentally, what Keith Phillips forgot to mention was that every letter of complaint regarding this policy in the Gazette has come from non-residents of the district. He also declined to mention that following these complaints, we swiftly introduced an annual car park badge for the evenings for residents and non-residents alike.

When MTAG took over the town council they stated they were going to give back to the people of Malvern what the previous administration had taken. This is laudable enough and they have done so by subsidising their tax precept from their reserves.

However, this cannot go on forever and I look forward to how they propose to address this problem before the next town council elections.

Coun Clive Smith, Greenfields Road, Malvern Link.