YOUR April 27 report "School sport a winner under £11 million scheme" does not convey the full picture as regards Teign School, Kingsteignton.

Devon County Council has ring-fenced £10 million towards a £20 million sports centre of which Teign School will have the use – but who will have ownership, control and responsibility for the eventual financial viability of the centre, the provision of which depends on planning approval for 1,750 new dwellings and 70 acres of industrial development, a development found "unsound" and rejected by the Inspector at its Public Examination?

The developer has since admitted that in the economic downturn the infrastructure needed for that development cannot be delivered and has announced a delay in implementing the planning permission to relocate the "All Whites" Rugby Club, which is required to deliver essential road improvements.

However, planning applications have been submitted for the 1,750 new dwellings – but those applications do not include the provision of a new school and a bridge crossing the River Teign, the Stover Canal and the railway line, both of which were required within the development plan.

Teignbridge District Council agrees with Kingsteignton Residents Environmental Awareness Group (KREAG) that in past years Kingsteignton has been overdeveloped, with insufficient support infrastructure. That cannot be allowed to happen again.

Devon County Council is £617 million in debt, but if the Kingsteignton development and the sports centre is to proceed, £17 million is required for the new school, further millions are needed for new roads, including the bridge – which the county council describes as a priority – and still more if the development is to deliver affordable housing in compliance with Government planning policy statements.

Teign School should have its own facilities. It should not be used as a pawn in promoting a financially doubtful development. Teign School's post-2016 funding is reportedly being reduced by £50,000.

Councillor Ken Tuckett

Kingsteignton

Ride, don't drive

THE Countryside Alliance has published its "Manifesto for the Countryside" and speaks very effectively for those who enjoy field sports.

But it has failed to make a serious analysis for the reduction of carbon emissions to mitigate climate change.

It talks about the need for better bus services to help reduce emissions, but it has not looked to its own members' activities as part of this amelioration.

Any observer of a hunt meeting will see that many riders arrive with horses that are either towed by large 4x4s or carried in furniture removal-sized lorries.

The CA – if it is to be taken seriously – should remind its members that horses have legs, so can be ridden to a meeting. CA members would thus reduce their own carbon hoofprint.

Or to put things another way – when it comes to the environment the CA should stay silent.

Theo Hopkins

Lifton

ID Register is secure

WITH reference to Mr C H White's letter about ID cards (May 9), I feel it is important to answer the question of database security, given your reader's comment about the Government's record on computerised schemes.

It is a statutory duty for the National Identity Register to be secure and reliable. Its management and processes will be overseen by a newly appointed Identity Commissioner who will report annually on the uses to which ID cards are put, and the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information in the Register.

Full access to the Register will be limited to fewer than 100 staff who will be specially vetted and subject to strict government security clearance.

The Identity and Passport Service will make sure any companies wishing to help customers record their biometric details, such as fingerprints, are subjected to a rigorous process to guarantee they meet strict rules on data security.

James Hall

Chief Executive Identity and Passport Service

Credible manifesto

THE Liberal Democrat administration in Cornwall has left the finances in remarkably good health. We have just set the lowest council tax increase in more than 10 years because of savings created by the new council.

We have protected and increased spending in real terms on both the fire service and care for elderly people. Yet the council tax remains among the lowest in the country.

Costs of the unitary council have risen but have been more than matched by increased savings that will allow the Lib-Dems to continue to increase spending on the services people want instead of paying for seven chief executives and seven bureaucracies.

The savings of the unitary council will also allow the introduction of cheaper parking to boost town centres, which has been pioneered by Lib-Dems in Caradon.

Our manifesto – far from having holes, as claimed by our opponents – offers the only costed, coherent and credible way forward for Cornwall.

Ann Kerridge

Bodmin

Horrors sanitised

GRAEME Demianyk's article (May 11) on Auschwitz and Birkenau, those dreadful places, made interesting reading, as my wife and I visited both last year.

What perhaps was not stressed is the degree to which both camps have been sanitised to cater for the great numbers of tourists arriving mainly by coach.

The cola machines and gift shops are doubtless a financial necessity, but there are few places to stand and appreciate the real horrors of what took place.

John Breining-Riches

Chagford

Cut-price mail

IF the proposed semi-privatisation of the Royal Mail goes ahead, will it then be known as "The Half-Crown Mail"?

Mavis Chandler

Plympton