I NOTE in Thursday's Echo (December 8) that the council needs to make £1.4million of savings to balance its budget this year.

Might I suggest that one of the ways some of the deficit can be reduced would be to halt some of the expensive unnecessary work which will very soon be taking place at Tuckton roundabout.

Yes, the pedestrian crossings are of importance for the safety of all who wish to cross any of the roads. Yes, the widening of the road outside the Tesco store is essential for the free movement of traffic through Tuckton. No, in this financial crisis the roads do not need to be narrowed down with built-out kerbs.

Today, on a bitterly cold day the traffic was built right up to the crossroads, down to the library at Wick and through Tuckton, and this is in the winter when traffic is at its lowest! Imagine what it will be like in the summer when the visitors arrive and wish to go over the bridge to Christchurch or to our lovely riverbank or even our lovely beaches.

The number of accidents on the roundabout has been negligible over the last five years, and if this is the reason for the so called "road safety improvements" then the amount of money being spent is unnecessary at this particular time when it could be used to help clear the deficit or even transferred to another department desperate for extra funding.

Please don't say this can't be done. Anything is possible if the will is there. Please Councillors remember it is our money you are spending and sometimes, as in all walks of life, one cannot have everything one would like. Compromises have to be met and common sense prevail.

Anyone who lives in this area round Tuckton roundabout would agree. Hands off doing unnecessary roadworks when in all honesty we, as a town, cannot afford extravagant work that is not important at this time.

ROSEMARY WARREN, Springfield Avenue, Southbourne