SIR – A senior Labour councillor questioned my aptitude as an accountant during the swimming pool debates because of my belief that the pool would virtually pay for itself. 
I doubt the Labour councillor will apologise but I am pleased to see that the council have negotiated exactly that. 
The historical £300,000 subsidy is now saved and more so the contribution from the operator will go a long way to paying the loan itself.  
Worcester gets a new pool and enhanced Perdiswell into the bargain.
The challenge now is to see what good the council can do with the £300,000 saving and what good the council can do with the old Sansome Walk site. 
Moreover I’d hope that the council and its contractor use local workers and local suppliers so that a good chunk of the £10 million build finds its way into local pockets.
NEIL MONKHOUSE
Worcester

Does the public really want Syrian refugees?
SIR – I was interested to read the Worcester News article on Councillor Gregson’s open letter regarding Syrian Refugees, or asylum seekers, or economic migrants, September 17.
I quote, ‘For the public the refugee crisis has brought to the fore the moral duty for action on the part of Government, and all local authorities’ Has it now?
Didn’t a recent YouGov poll say half of us wanted either no Syrians here, or at the most not more than 5,000 of them? How does that give Cllr Gregson carte blanche to speak ‘For the Public?’ How come the Great Muslim Brotherhood isn’t taking in the ‘millions’ being displaced? Why don’t we see endless news videos of tens of thousands of these people arriving in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, or Iran or Jordan? Why do Muslims in their hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions, make for the overwhelmingly Christian countries of Europe, instead of their Islamic neighbours? How many of all those we see on television news reports fleeing the Middle East are doing so because they don’t want to be given a Kalashnikov and be ordered to go and fight?
Why are we all being brainwashed by the BBC and others that this is ‘England’s’ problem? I would like somebody to explain to me why one of the most densely populated nations on Earth – us – is constantly being told it must take in more and more people.
Are ‘the something must be done brigade’, apparently led locally by Cllr Gregson, as ‘au fait’ with the strategic aspects of the ‘Syria problem’, as they need to be ? 
I think somebody should be asking Councillor Gregson, and the ‘something must be done brigade’, these sorts of questions, because it seems to me the BBC and others have created more than a few ‘headless chickens’.
N TAYLOR
Worcester

We need standards for energy efficiency
SIR – In July 2015 George Osborne announced that he would be withdrawing a commitment to improve the energy efficiency standards of new homes by cancelling a scheduled improvement in building regulations. This received condemnation from over 200 businesses who have asked the Chancellor to reverse the decision.
We need a cross-party campaign from councillors in Worcester City Council to specify ‘Passivhaus’ standards on all new homes and buildings constructed on council land or as a condition of sale on council land sold for development.
Passivhaus is an internationally recognised standard that typically means an average household can have heating bills of less than £100/year due to the highly efficient thermal performance. As Passivhaus is an international standard it cannot be interfered with by national governments, while still being in full compliance with UK Building Regulations.
NEIL LAURENSON
Green Party, Worcester

He is a master of misinterpretation
SIR – Malvern’s master of mistranslation and misinterpretation, Clive Smith, appears to have survived last week’s hilarious fall on to his sword.
The other day (September 9) he took a pop at Will Richards (September 4). Of Mr Richards’ letter, he asked (amid the whistle of wind and rustle of tumbleweeds), if he was saying ‘that the likes of Mo Farah have been a drain on the state...’ Well, I read Mr Richard’s letter. The answer is No, he isn’t. He didn’t even mention athletics.
Indeed, Mr Smith’s curious ability to see something other than that which was written, is quite remarkable. And then asking the readers to ‘look at the correspondence’ before making a judgement? The irony is sublime!
This week (September 14) he refers to my letter (September 7) and my alleged ‘final comment about the Holocaust’. Here we go again... I made no comment about the Holocaust. It was Mr Smith who mentioned the Holocaust in a worryingly flippant manner, the other week. My comment (as he knows quite well – hence his laughable smokescreen) was directed at his puerile bid to add ‘weight’ to his argument, by that cringeworthy inclusion. The letters are all online.
He ended this week’s tedium by appointing himself Judge Judy and executioner, barking ‘I rest my case’. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, dear oh dear.
M CLEARY
Worcester

Why should I help?
SIR – As my letter in the Worcester News was cut so much on September 18 here it is in a nutshell.
I for one do not want refugees in Britain.
Why should I help them? I had to work for what I have.
MARGARET SHERIDAN
Worcester