I CONGRATULATE Dr Richards for his recent letter outlining a brief history of the ills of the Conservative group on Bromsgrove District Council.

His comments on the Independents are not, however, quite accurate.

The Independents are not disgruntled Conservatives who chose to leave the group. The original five councillors were actually expelled from the Conservative group for a period of six months.

Our crime? We dared propose that the local residents in the vicinity of the Rovers football ground be consulted via a referendum on the proposals to develop the site. The then cabinet, with its then leader, was known to have had meetings with developers about the site - something which they all constantly denied until the Standards Board for England was called in to adjudicate the issue. When we were written to informing us of our period of expulsion we were also told that we shall be expected, during that period, to vote with the group irrespective of the issue in spite of having no input into the discussion.

This, we could not stomach and resigned from the group formally. We were then joined by Cllr Mrs Jean Luck, who was elected as an Independent in her own right, and more recently by Cllr Dave McGrath - who left the Labour Party to join us.

The six of us have great fun in discussing council issues without any preconceived notions or indeed having to look over our shoulders wondering what the 'Party' will expect of us on this or that issue. There is no 'whip' system and each Independent member votes in the way he/she thinks their vote will benefit the people of the Bromsgrove district as a whole.

Cllr Nick Psirides

Co-ordinator

Bromsgrove Independents

Rubery