CAEDMON FEATHERSTON, of Market Street, Dartmouth, writes:

I was appalled to read in this paper that Dartmouth Town Council want to take over the running of the Lower Ferry, Royal Avenue Gardens and Coronation Park.

Taking into account the previous schemes undertaken by the council, such as the re-generation of Market Square, and the usage of the Town Hall, I do not feel that they are competent enough to take on such an undertaking.

The market square:

1, It was £100,000 over budget.

2, Mall doors were used for the shops. mall doors are inappropriate for outdoor use. There is a gap of half an inch between the doors and the shop-front glass walls subjecting the interiors to draughts and rain when there is an easterly wind. The unintended advantage is that mail can be posted through the gaps, as no letter boxes were installed. One shopkeeper has installed draught excluder in the gaps, to stop mice getting in.

Maybe the architects would care to give the reason why such doors were used.

3, Failure to get permission from English Heritage for the installation of two aluminium chimneys on a Grade II listed building. Retrospective permission was eventually granted. A councillor was quoted, in this newspaper, as saying 'but we did look into it very carefully' not very, me thinks.

4, When plans for the installation of the kitchen in Rob's cafe were discussed by the council and the proprietor, it was agreed that an industrial extractor fan would be installed. A domestic fan was put in place with the result that on opening day the windows of the cafe were completely steamed up. The owner contacted the council to tell them that the wrong fan had been installed and said that this was not as originally agreed.

The council denied that there had been any such agreement and demanded that the owner pay £1,000 towards the cost of a suitable replacement. When the original document was produced the council agreed to install the correct extractor fan, at no cost to the cafe proprietor.

The above four points tell me that Dartmouth Town Council is dysfunctional (the exact words told to me by a retired, ex-employee of the council, 'In m experience of working in the public sector, Dartmouth is the most dysfunctional council I have ever worked for')

One councillor told me, when I was helping Dartmouth in bloom to hang up the flower baskets around the town, that the best thing to do with the Boat Float was to fill it in. Not a good example of constructive thinking by a town's representative. If he had a sense of humour it didn't show.

It appears to me, from reading this newspaper that the council is made up of three or four cliques who never mutually discuss plans and problems. If the councillors would spend less time scratching each other's eyes out and got together, concentrated on forward thinking, planning and appropriate delegation, the town would be better off. With the present set up, any further responsibilities taken on by the council can only end in chaos.

If this objective is allowed to happen, I can visualise that in a short time we, the townspeople, will have the Coronation tarmacadam car park, the Lower Ferry to nowhere and an impenetrable undergrowth where the only thing working would be the fountain, thanks to the Herculean efforts, with machetes, of the Old Dartmouthians.