I’M not a mean sort. It’s just that it’s against my principles to pay for parking my car anywhere.

It’s not unusual for me to park half a mile or more from my destination to avoid feeding a meter! (An umbrella can come in handy!) I realise that this may not be an option for the less mobile, so any campaign for free parking would always get my support. I was disappointed, therefore, at the outcome of a campaign to make Newport’s council-run car parks meter-free zones. But what really concerned me was to read that a councillor who dared to abstain at the vote, faced the threat of disciplinary action. Thankfully, there was sufficient goodwill to ensure that a suspension motion failed to pass. But, nevertheless, this case illustrates the unhealthy state of local government, and how party politics has paralysed it.

Is it too much to hope that one day our councillors will be of truly independent mind, with the freedom to act according to their convictions?

R.H. Aston Woodland Place Blackwood