Sir – THE letter from County Councillor Pollock (August 11), writing about the lack of a western bypass for Worcester city, was quite revealing.

One paragraph in particular stood out: ‘ The A449 leading to Junction 6 of the M5 is already severely congested… and funnelling more traffic from the Northern Link would create even worse jams.’ As I see it, this is total gibberish. It reminds me of that saying – the trouble with common sense is that it’s not that common.

Can he not see that a bypass, extending west from the Claines Island, crossing the river north of Bevere and then turning south to link up with existing roads would take large amounts of traffic out of the city?

It could actually relieve the present congestion on the Northern Link, by funnelling LESS traffic onto it?

That’s why the Northern Link was built - as the first phase of the Worcester bypass, by the County Surveyor and internationally respected engineer Mr W.R.Thompson, in the 1960’s. The new road would complete Worcester’s bypass and it would no longer have the title of the worst congested city in the country, after London.

If the councillor cannot see this, he should be replaced on the County Council by someone who can and does understand it. It’s perfectly obvious to the growing number of people writing to the Worcester News clamouring for a western bypass. As the excellent letter from Mr John Matthews observed, if the ring road was finished before the dualling, the Carrington bridge might not need to be dualled, and £70 million could be saved.

If the Carrington Bridge is dualled, it will simply move the bottleneck from the Ketch Roundabout to the next roundabout, by the Teme Bridge – and that is already so busy that it’s frequently a nightmare.

The councillor’s letter seems to lead to one of two conclusions. First, that indeed there was a conspiracy, as it is alleged, to avoid building the road through North Worcester and Bevere so as not to upset Tory voters living there. The councillor denies this, but as he wasn’t a councillor all those years ago, how can he know? The alternative conclusion is that Tory County Councillors’ heads continue to be buried in the sand.

No doubt, there will be people who believe both conclusions. However, the County Council elections move ever nearer. Next May, the people will decide.

David Withey

Malvern