IN calling for the ringfencing of funding to mend potholes both the Small Business Federation ("Call for ringfencing of funds to fix potholes", The Herald, July 28) and your editorial ("Businesses are suffering due to pothole neglect", The Herald, July 28) focus on repair costs and omit to address why potholes arise in the first place.

A proper policy would in the first place ensure that the public utility companies actually undertake proper repairs within the required fixed three-month period as they are supposed to. Far too often their temporary repairs are allowed to become "permanent". Better monitoring of utility works would help ensure they do proper repairs in the first place. Prevention is the best cure.

Secondly, we need to build on the Games legacy which has (albeit with a last-minute rush) made major inroads in tackling the pothole rash in east Glasgow and around many of the venues. We need to ensure that all future pothole repairs are undertaken properly - and stop the (marginally cheaper) short-term patch repairs.

It is not just a question of allocating funding as suggested, but how it is used. Efficient road systems in most UK cities use transponders on traffic lights, so they react to actual traffic (and indeed pedestrians and cyclists). Glasgow seems averse to using transponders on traffic lights - except at a few rare locations. And what other UK city would not properly link the M8 and M74 in all directions - but create a confusing merry-go-round instead? Such short-term measures eventually come home to roost.

And if pothole neglect was tackled - then maybe the other unwanted cost that blights the central belt, litter, might also be tackled.

Dave Sutton,

9 Douglas Gate,

Cambuslang.