YOUR article, re: park and ride, quotes Steven Galton as calling for the council to be more ambitious.

That, if I may say so, is ignoring deliberately his groups own record on this issue, for it was the former Conservative controlled council, who failed to demonstrate to the government inspector their determination to implement PR at Stoneham, indeed after listening to her condemnation, they proved the inspector right by immediately leasing the land to a football club for the next 25 years.

That said we have to face the fact that the only available land with in the possession of the council is the playing fields which incidentally are strategically placed in this concept!

And so I return to a proposal that I have made several times over the years, and that is to provide park and ride with other facilities underground, parking similar to that used extensively not only in England but around the world!

Once provided there is no reason why the land above should not be available for their original use, sport!

One big advantage is the proximity to the airport, and its railway station, which has already achieved regional status, and is linked directly to the motorway network.

At a stroke, land sea and air are linked not only to the city, but equally to the region.

Bearing in mind the recent motorway work nearing completion in the area it could be achieved relatively quickly.

From my experience, as both chairman in the early seventies of the Cities Planning and Transportation Committee, and member of the county council’s committee, I would hazard the guess that there is no other suitable land that would match the scale or accessibility of this site.

Access could (particularly now) be obtained from the new road set-up to land either side of of the new approach road leading from Stonham lane, what we need is courage and action, we have as a city prevaricated far too long.

Alan Reynard, Wide Lane, Southampton