The council has listened to the people

RESIDENTS and councillors are well ahead of the letter writer on the subject of Chuckery Green, in the Advertiser earlier this month.

Walsall Council has no intentions of losing the grant for a youth project in Chuckery. This is in fact taxpayers' money and the council has had to fight hard for its fair share of the Government funding to deliver facilities in the area.

As the elected councillors for St Matthew's Ward we were invited to join local residents at community meetings, in their own homes and at the Chuckery Green site. We worked hard to persuade the council to consider alternative sites and our request was agreed by the cabinet on 22 April.

No resolution was ever passed approving Chuckery Green as a development site and judging by local opposition it was a non-starter. The council hasn't caved-in. It has listened to the local community. It's called democracy and the campaigners should be congratulated on their success.

We make no apology for this and point out to the writer that there were no local elections this year and in May 2010 the seat is defended by Labour, not either of us, so we can hardly be accused of political opportunism.

Councillor Mohammed Arif Councillor Barbara McCracken