AS it is only 41 years since Bournemouth bus station was destroyed by fire, I suppose we should not expect the council to achieve miracles in finding a replacement.

However, reading in the Echo last week of the council's multi-million pound redevelopment scheme for the Lansdowne area; the recent opening of the brand new entertainment complex on the site of the old Exeter Road car park (a missed opportunity for a replacement bus station if ever there was) and the hundreds of thousands spent on fancy new shared pedestrian/vehicle road systems in Boscombe, we could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that our council has now totally given up on the idea of providing Bournemouth with a new fit-for-purpose bus station.

It is nothing short of disgraceful that the pedestrianised main square of one of the country's leading holiday resorts has been blighted for so long by the unsightly and noxious (not to say, dangerous) log-jam of buses that can barely manoeuvre as their long-suffering drivers attempt to squeeze their vehicles past each other with barely inches to spare.

Indeed, it is only thanks to the skill and patience of the drivers that there are not a great many collisions and accidents.

Is it really beyond the wits of our town planners to sort out this mess - now in its fifth decade?

ROBERT READMAN Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth