WHILE Bill Barker, secretary of SCOTS, the body that represents council road engineers, is right to point out the growing likelihood of unsafe bridges, neither he nor anyone else should be allowed to gloss over the endemic problems of potholes and non-adopted roads (“Repair bill for bridges doubles to half a billion”, The Herald, January 7) .

With more than 20,000 new houses in Scotland on non-adopted estates, building up major problems for the future, and finishes after utility works that are all too often a quick “bodge” (a £150 temporary fill rather than a proper one at £350, for instance), there are very real questions for our highway officers, road engineers and government ministers to answer.

These are:

* Why do councils lack the powers to charge developers when roads are not properly completed?

* Why do utility companies not have to pay by the day every time they dig up the road?

* Why do all those calling out for the construction of new homes fail to recognise that the quality of a new development is the key element?

It seems our politicians are too blinded by housing numbers and targets (18,182 each year) and don’t see any problems with the potholed, non-adopted mess that is there for all to see.

Dave Sutton,

9 Douglas Gate,

Cambuslang,

South Lanarkshire.