Sir – As editor of the recent Hatfield Focus Newsletter, I thought I should respond personally to the letters in last week s WHT. Opposition political parties are, in my opinion, honour-bound to hold the party in power to account for their action and

Sir - As editor of the recent Hatfield Focus Newsletter, I thought I should respond personally to the letters in last week's WHT.

Opposition political parties are, in my opinion, honour-bound to hold the party in power to account for their action and inaction. Failure to do so is tantamount to collusion. We are happy to work with others where we see a common goal, but we will also vocally point out failures and mistakes when they are made.

I make no apologies for the newsletter, indeed, I have been congratulated by a number of local residents who feel exactly the same about the town centre.

This administration, led with a rod of iron from the centre, has quite simply let all who live in Hatfield down. They refuse to admit their mistakes, and apologists who say "but this should not be a political issue, we should all work together to make things better" are forgetting that while everything was on track, this Conservative administration were trumpeting it as their success.

Suddenly, when things go wrong, we should all forget who made the mistakes.

I live in Hatfield. I take no pleasure whatsoever in the failure of the project. I want a new town centre for me, my wife and my young family to enjoy. Seeing that future disintegrate has been painful and depressing. I want someone to be held to account.

I think very many people in Hatfield feel exactly the same. We want a town centre we can use, that is a pleasure to visit and that provides a sense of community and pride in where we live. That's what we were promised. A few new hanging baskets and some Christmas lights are not going to do it. The council's "substantial additional funds" that amount to what should have been spent before, but which was withheld because the redevelopment was due to start, is simply a sop to try to deflect our anger.

The idea that we should present suggestions and ideas is a reasonable one, so I would suggest that we start with the following suggestion as put forward in the Focus Newsletter: The "leader" who led us into this mess should admit his mistakes, step aside and make way for someone who might actually deliver. Then, maybe, we can actually have a proper dialogue about what to do next.

Paul Zukowskyj, Liberal Democrat Prospective MP AND Hatfield Resident!

Politics and our town

Sir - It was good to see that the recently distributed Liberal Democrat Focus has provoked a response from at least two residents, Sean Farmer and Rhiannon Jordan (WHT, October 15) regarding the fate of Hatfield town centre. As a resident of over 30 years I was beginning to wonder if anybody else actually cared about this town.

Of course this is a political issue. The Conservatives have such a huge majority on Welwyn Hatfield Council that they are able to act as they please, often ignoring the wishes of local residents, or, at best, making token changes in response to public outcry, as with the trees at Stanborough.

As an opposition party it is the duty of the Liberal Democrats, including myself, to highlight issues that affect local residents, whether that is Post Office closures, or a planned incinerator at New Barnfield, or a demand from St Modwen for £12million of OUR money just to keep them on board.

We are all human, and we all make mistakes. But we are also responsible for our actions, and when things go seriously wrong then the honourable thing to do is to admit to the error and to resign. Sadly the current elected leader of the council chose to wait until election day last May before releasing the news of the problems with St Modwen.

Simon Archer, Welwyn Hatfield Liberal Democrats, Travellers Lane, Hatfield.