SIR – I was recently horrified to see the state of the wooden rail on the 10-year-old Diglis footbridge. 

On March I emailed a certain councillor who likes his photograph taken with footbridges to express my concern. 

He didn’t reply, but on April 1 I had an email from a county council manager with a response from his “specialist bridge team” who said, with reference to the wooden rails, that “whilst they have weathered, they are in keeping with the bridge’s rural surroundings” – a response which I considered to be unbelievably flippant.

A painter with a few sheets of sandpaper and a large tin of varnish five years ago could have sorted this but now they are probably beyond rescue.

I replied to this email asking this manager if, having seen my photograph, he concurred with this response. He declined to comment.

Many years ago, I complained about the dangerously uneven surface of Northwick Road and was told that “it helped with traffic calming measures”!

This dismissive attitude towards taxpayers’ complaints would seem to be institutional within our public bodies.

If my complaints are dismissed as coming from “a lefty”, please note that those who know me view my politics as being slightly to the right of Attila the Hun’s!

Ian Cranston

Worcester