I am writing in response to this story Tories call on Steve leggett to be removed from post as well as a myriad of letters from Royston Smith, and several local Tory councillors.

Local Tories seem to be very critical of our Labour controlled council rolling out cycle and pedestrian infrastructure that has been deemed necessary by (Tory) central government and the Department For Transport.

They have yet to offer any plans of their own to improve walking and cycling facilities in the city though, presumably one can assume that no such plans exist on the Tory side of the fence.

I therefore put it to them that they are playing party politics with the safety of their constituents and plead with them to stop.

The number of cars on the road is growing year on year, cars are growing in size, and air pollution is getting worse.

There is a finite amount of space in the city to move people around, walking. cycling, and public transport are all much more efficient at moving people around.

These improvements absolutely must be made as the city is very inhospitable to non drivers.

Local Tories must try to work with Labour not against them to achieve a walking and cycling plan for the city.

Objecting to everything Labour does for party political reasons, against the best interests of the city is not a good look.

On this issue Cllr Leggett and his colleagues have my full support, the Tories are an embarrassment to the city.

I challenge the local Tories to release their plans for walking and cycling in the city. If no plans are released I urge them to stop the criticism.

For reference, the plans (if they exist) should conform to this set of standards that have been produced by the DFT under the current Tory government.

Tom Vetterlein

Southampton