Sir.-It's good news that Councillor Horace Mitchell (Monday's Gazette) is taking an interest in Pack Lane's traffic problems - but he needs to listen to the views of the residents for whose benefit the £100,000 was spent.

The humps (pictured) have been effective in reducing the speed of traffic in Pack Lane - and particularly in reducing the volume of traffic at night.

Cllr Mitchell's "signs that flash warnings at speeding motorists" will have no effect on the cars that used to do 40 to 60mph along Pack Lane at 2am. The humps have taken away their sport.

The biggest issue now is the speed tables. Pack Lane is being used by more and more trucks and vans. Even the minority who take the trouble to slow down at the speed tables can't prevent the contents of their vehicles taking off and landing with a deafening crash, repeated at intervals along the road.

A letter from Peter Bayliss, chief engineer, traffic management and road safety for Hampshire County Council, says that "a significant reduction of noise from passing goods vehicles would require substantial modifications which would compromise the objectives of the traffic-calming scheme, leading again to increases of speed".

The speed tables are an environmental disaster, and the council is not prepared to spend money rectifying its own shoddy work.

The result is a noise like the demolition of a building, repeated several times an hour.

Don't waste £100,000 removing the speed humps. Just remove the speed tables and allow the residents of Pack Lane to enjoy some peace again.

Stephen Mesquita,
Pack Lane,
Basingstoke.

Sir.-The Pack Lane ramps and the others around South Ham are a pain and must surely cause suspension damage to vehicles.

Cllr Horace Mitchell says if the Conservatives are still in control next year, he will have them removed at a cost of £100,000.

What I want to know is how it could possibly cost that amount - surely just give workmen a pneumatic drill and they could lift them in no time?

The humps need removing but £100,000 is just more waste of the extortionate amount of council tax we have to pay.

David Stratton,
South Ham,
Basingstoke.

Sir.-It's proposals such as the one to spend £100,000 on removing the Pack Lane speed humps that make most people regard local politics and local politicians as a joke.

Has the new council already run out of positive ideas? What about improvements to Basingstoke's totally inadequate pedestrian and cycle networks? What about the 20mph limit that Old Basing people marched for last week?

Please plan seriously for a better Basingstoke while facing up to global warming and the other real problems that face us.

Don't waste time, effort and our money on pointless, vote-catching gestures.

Stuart Shurlock,
Warton Road,
Basingstoke.