PAUL Woodruff is clearly not a fan of the new 'traffic light' coalition on the cabinet of the city council (Citizen, May 22).

My view is that the council needs a clear sense of direction, clear leadership and rapid progress on a number of issues. A coalition can do this.

Anyone who has attended council meetings of late will have noticed that while there is clearly debate, proceedings can be chaotic. The trick will be to make sure that debates continue but that there is an overall sense of direction to guide officers.

However, we also recognise that the Independents and Conservatives have considerable support and it is important that these groups have chairs of the important review boards whose job is to scrutinise decisions.

There are large areas of agreement between all groups in the coalition, such as on reducing crime and disorder, improved street cleansing and recycling and on local jobs.

But there will clearly still be big areas of disagreement - for example, the Green group is opposed to the Western Bypass and think the solution to the transport problems lies in imp-roved public transport and facilitation of walking and cycling.

Cllr Jon Barry, Lancaster.