KINGS' is an excellent school, the Tower an outstanding community arts centre. They are good because they focus on what they deliver to the public.

The proposal is for the county council to transfer the Tower to the school with no money changing hands and with no formal commitments from the school. Kings' can effectively do whatever they want. If you put yourself in the school's position, you can see that this is rather a good deal. The losers are the many users of the Tower from Blue Apple to the attendees of the outstanding evening programme. This is clearly a ridiculous state of affairs that sits squarely at the door of the county council. Kings' say they have been caught in political cross-fire. There is no cross-fire in Winchester . All the county councillors in the city, the city council, the two main prospective MP's and the public are united - they want sufficient time to find a proper solution.

The Tower User Group are extremely anxious about the situation. In September, Councillor Thornber ordered a consultation including a presentation of the business case from the school. Astonishingly, no further details of the school's commitments were forthcoming at the public meeting. Quite rightly, the public feel duped.

Since the summer, on two occasions I have formally asked the school to produce the minutes from the governors' meeting that approved the deal. I have also asked for reports that were discussed at recent meetings. These are public records. Despite this, the school has not produced these documents.

Against this backcloth, Kings' demand a deal by 7th December. The council are now scrambling around to try to put together a compromise deal that will suit noone.

If you are in a hole - stop digging. It's time to lift the veil of secrecy. This is a proposal to transfer a public asset from one public organisation to another. The public demand greater transparency. In the interests of the community, I ask the school to drop the 7th December deadline so that they can enter into constructive and open talks with the various stakeholders.

Alistair Marsden, Winchester.