COUNCILLOR Patrick Mewton's letter on this page illustrates the strange parallel universe which some members of Malvern Town Council still seem to inhabit.

In it he makes a cogent and well-argued case that it is the Malvern Town Action Group which has been responsible for costing the taxpayers of Malvern an estimated £250,000. Unfortunately, in our opinion he is entirely wrong.

Here in the real world, we believe most people might think that what has led to this ridiculous waste of public money has been the refusal of a group of councillors to heed local democracy and resign when they were asked to.

Had they done so, subsequent by-election results suggest MTAG would have taken over the council last year. The former town clerk may well still have gone but almost certainly not with the same early retirement package.

Virtually all the costs outlined by Coun Mewton - and what a revealing list it is - stem from the council's decision to fight on in the face of the result of a parish poll in which 92 per cent, over 3,000 people, asked the then town councillors to resign.

We would join Coun Mewton in urging members of the public to attend council meetings, where they can make it clear which group of councillors they believe to be responsible for this situation.