WHEN I received an invitation to attend a public meeting to discuss the future of the allotment garden site off Lower Howsell Road the evasive wording of the leaflet told me immediately the questions I should ask at the meeting.

One week before the meeting I wrote to the mayor giving him prior notice of the questions in the hope that this would give him time to obtain some informative answers before he chaired the meeting. The mayor replied next day saying he had asked the director of planning to respond.

The questions I put to him were:

1. What is the date of the council meeting at which they decided not to proceed with a Compulsory Purchase Order on the site?

2. Did the council have the site valued and who did the valuation?

3. What was the valuation?

On the night of the meeting I identified myself and the mayor apologised for not having the answers yet, although he had told the planning office he needed them urgently for the meeting. I then put my questions to the meeting and asked if any of the councillors prevent could tell us the value placed on the site and who did the valuation?

One councillor stood up and said she could not remember the value or who did the valuation but that was not important. The important point was that the council could not afford it and the meeting had been called so that local residents could comment on the proposals put forward by the developers and say which one they preferred. All the other councillors present remained firmly in their seats. Representatives of the landowners, the developers and the town planing office also remained silent.

The day after the meeting, surprise, surprise, I received through the post a note from the mayor with a copy of an e-mail from the planning office which had been received by his computer at 5pm just after he had left to arrange the meeting.

The contents of the e-mail showed that the decision not to purchase was made two years ago by two council sub-committees and never put to a vote at a full council meeting. This explains why it received no publicity at the time.

The site "was valued by our in-house Estates Office" but his name was not given. The valuation was "exempt information" and I would wish it to remain confidential just in case the issue ever becomes "live" again". So I have still not got any answers to my questions and I feel bound to ask what on earth is going on here?

Surely, after 12 years of prevarication and procrastination the time has come for the Malvern Hills Council to assert its democratic authority and instruct its employees at the planning office to comply with the recommendation of the public inquiry inspector and start Compulsory Purchase Order proceedings on this site immediately or face the consequences.

One result of this action will be that the council receives a proper valuation of the site given by a properly qualified Civil Servant working in a reputable government department. Most importantly he will have no connection with the landowner, the property developer, the council or the council planning office, who all failed to answer my questions.

Perhaps at some future public meeting, when there is a genuine purchase price to consider, the residents of Malvern Link might decide to raise the money by public subscription and a grant from the Lottery Commission. They might even vote to throw in a couple of water features to improve the environment and keep the councillors happy.

J ROBERTS, Sumerfield Road, Malvern.