WHILE one should congratulate Chris O'Donell, the latest Conservative district councillor for the Wells ward, one should also question the observations of David Hughes, Conservative leader of Malvern Hills District Council.

Councillor Hughes is quoted as saying this result is "a clear endorsement of the Conservative administration's policy of putting people before politics and our aim of providing high quality services at the lowest cost to residents".

If we ignore the meaningless nature of much of that, given that every political party's "aim" would be to provide the best services at the lowest cost, and the fact that he appears to have forgotten to congratulate Chris for the hard work I'm sure she put in, we are left with three questions.

The first goes to keeping costs low, and is how many thousand wheelie bins are currently stored, unused, yet charged to the hapless local council tax payers?

The second question, goes to "putting people before politics", so does that mean his Conservative-controlled district council will actually listen to the people of Malvern Link, and deny planning permission to those seeking to build more housing in green spaces on Lower Howsell Road?

Or does he mean he listens only to people unaffected by his government's policies, and its apparent disregard for localism?

Ukip's policy is for its councillors to act in the best interests of local people, and not to merely toe the party line.

Perhaps that's why our local MP, who loves to have her picture in every week's copy of the Gazette, has made no appearance at any of the meetings about the over development of Malvern and the surrounding areas?

My third question goes to the hardcore Conservative voters of Malvern, and elsewhere. After consecutive Labour and Conservative/Lib Dem governments have thrown open Britain's borders to all and sundry from eastern Europe, leaked more and more powers to foreign, unelected, undemocratic bureaucrats in Brussels, and conspired to deny any of us a voice in our own futures, and the future direction of our country, how much more damage must be done I wonder, before you wake up to the clear fact that they are not the same relatively democratic and patriotic party you voted for 30 years ago?

Will Richards

Malvern