SIR —– I feel I must respond to Cllr Thornber’s letter (Chronicle, May 14), although I am still not clear what point he was making in his opening paragraph.

My reason for writing my original letter was quite clearly as stated to remind the electorate again how profligate the council had been in the mind-boggling expenditure in refurbishing Ashburton Court.

Cllr Thornber is on dangerous ground when criticising the architectural merits of the original building — the general public would probably agree that the building was not the most attractive, however, the original county architect’s designers obviously felt otherwise.

In most buildings there is a difference of architectural opinion.

I am sure the local taxpayer will be delighted that according to some Government department, HCC is giving excellent value for money, but I am at a loss to understand what relevence that has to the enormous expenditure in refurbishing Ashburton Court.

In any event, we all view Government departments and statistics with a certain amount of scepticism!

Cllr Thornber is confusing the issue by waffling on in his letter with a number of irrelevant matters such as carbon footprints and the cost of taps, when the fact remains that if £40m could be raised by whatever means, then this money could have been spent on more worthwhile causes after retaining sufficient funds to remedy the defects in the existing building.

Finally, it would still be of considerable interest to know the total cost of the development including professional fees, furniture and fittings and landscaping, and to confirm that Cllr Thornber is correct when he assures us that the £40m budget will not be exceeded.

Jim Griffiths, Silchester Place, Winchester.