IT is beyond my comprehension to believe the level to which Coun Andrews stooped last week in launching his very personal and unprovoked attack on me through your paper.

His letter only serves to demonstrate how difficult it is to engage in a reasoned and intelligent debate.

Even “well-meaning members of the community” know that it is by debating the policy and not the person that the work of council is progressed.

My decisions and subsequent votes have always been made with integrity and by taking into account all relevant considerations.

I must, however, point out to your readers that one of the votes I was credited with making occurred before I was even elected to council in 2011.

It is notable that at this time, the council had no one-group majority, so we may surmise that the vote of an Independent member would carry more weight than in the present situation.

Not being privy to the debate in question, one has to wonder why Coun Andrews was unable to influence this decision.

Perhaps we could take a clue from a debate I was party to at last Tuesday’s council meeting, where in discussing the complex financial implications of maintaining closed churchyards, he chose to use his three-minute speaking slot to lead the council down a cul-de-sac, moving the topic into a prolonged and irrelevant discussion on pagodas in Japan and China.

Perhaps in selecting a representative for our community, it would be wise and effective to select one who can competently deliver his point to the intended target, instead of one who is only capable of delivering a series of own-goals.

Janet Sanderson, Thornton-le-Dale