EDUCATION; AS a parent with children at Hurworth Comprehensive School, I would like to broadly welcome the educational choice offered in the initiative put forward by Darlington MP Alan Milburn (Echo, Nov 23).

He is suggesting that children disadvantaged by schools consistently failing to deliver a satisfactory level of performance should be given the opportunity to access popular and successful schools.

The incentive for the successful school would be an "education credit", basically additional funding from the local education authority to come with each child.

However, while the additional funding would account for additional staffing requirements, the point this proposal fails to address is that many successful schools, including Hurworth, are already full and have no spare capacity to accommodate this additional intake.

The only way Mr Milburn's proposal will have any significant impact is by ensuring that these successful schools have access to additional capital funding for new buildings.

This expansion of, and investment in, popular schools would ensure that the maximum number of children would have access to a world class education in state-of-the-art facilities.- Ian Holme, Hurworth.

TESCO

ALTHOUGH Tesco and any other supermarket has been rejected on council land in Darlington town centre, it does not exclude a Tesco development outside that area.

What is the council's definition of the town centre? Is it possible Tesco could still go ahead on the land owned by the cricket club, for example? Is this defined as the town centre?

In fact, we are sure that the people of Darlington could come up with a large list of alternative sites where Tesco and the council could be conspiring to do business on "non-council land". None of this, of course, will happen until after next May's local elections.

The whole Tesco debate has destroyed any faith the public may have had in this council's integrity.

Still the suspicion continues when you hear comments from Coun Nick Wallis: "This was not a council proposal, it was a Tesco proposal" (Echo, Nov 24), and in the same edition of the Echo the Tesco comment: "This was a council-led consultation."

We are left having to make our own minds up because this council cannot be trusted to give us all the facts. - Gill and Mike Cartwright, and Tess Galletley, Conservative Candidates for Harrowgate Hill, Darlington.

RE your report on Darlington Borough Council's Tesco decision debate (Echo, Nov 24). So, Councillor John Williams thinks Coun Jim Ruck is "some sort of folk hero". In this particular pantomime, if Coun Ruck is the hero, who is the villain? - Graham Hunsley, Darlington.