One may wish to sympathise with Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club s need to expand their seating capacity from 1000 to 2000 as required by the Football League as reported in the Post 18/02/09 New stand or relegation . One might also agree that it w

One may wish to sympathise with Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club's need to expand their seating capacity from 1000 to 2000 as required by the Football League as reported in the 'Post' 18/02/09 "New stand or relegation".

One might also agree that it would indeed be a step backwards for the Barking and Dagenham as whole if they were relegated from the league as a result of not being able to fulfil their seating requirement.

The question must be asked however, is it really the job of a local authority to bail out football clubs? Arguably no.

A Capital Grant of �250, 000 and a loan of �200, 000. Surely one might be tempted ask where better such a large amount of tax payers money could be spent.

Ideas could include making sure that there is more money for re-building the road infrastructure within this borough with �80 million road works built up over the years?

Furthermore, there are the many council tenants who would benefit greatly from having the quality of their homes improved through repairs.

Moreover, such an large amount of money could be used to provide the youth of this borough with an increased level of activities.

I suspect there are even more useful options which would benefit greatly from �450,000. Unfortunately, it appears as if a football club is more important.

Cllr Lawrence Rustem

Valence Ward