DEAR Sir,

I am deeply concerned about the level of bullying – intense, sustained, deliberate bullying – to which councillors have been subjected in the aftermath of last Wednesday's decision on Sainsbury's Ashton Gate application.

A witch hunt has been launched in the press and slanderous lies have been published and repeated on the internet. The councillors have also been targeted personally in vicious emails and threatening phone calls.

Members of the development control committee are not mandated by their political groups on the council. Their function is quasi-judicial and planning law dictates that they make their decisions solely on the merits of the case before them and in good faith.

If on this occasion there was an attempt to influence their decision, it was made by the press – no one else!

A wild hysteria has been whipped up against these councillors and it has been done in an attempt to browbeat them into submitting to the will of the football club and its wealthy chairman. This is an extremely disturbing attack on the democratic process.

Let me be clear. The council, the Liberal Democrat administration and individual councillors have been characterised – irresponsibly and without regard to the facts – as the enemies of Bristol City's plans. Nothing could be further from the truth.

● We are in favour of the new stadium. We're backing it financially.

● We are in favour of the World Cup bid. Bristol City Council has led the bid.

● We are in favour of a new music arena. The Lib Dem administration has called – from the start of this project – for an arena to be included.

If we opposed the project in any way, would we have:

● Agreed to hand over more than £4 million of land to the football club in return for community benefits, including access to sporting facilities?

● Made concessions on the normal requirement for section 106 payments?

● Pumped £250,000 of council funds – and hundreds of hours of officer time and effort – into the 2018 World Cup bid?

● Backed this year's World Cup by screening matches in Queen Square at a cost of up to £80,000?

It's not for me to speak for the development control committee. But it should be remembered that they did pass plans for the new stadium at Ashton Vale earlier this year. Is that an indication of prejudiced opposition to City's plans? It's nothing of the kind.

I am grateful to the Evening Post – which has so strongly demonstrated its interest in these matters over the last few days – for allowing me to put the council's position.

Men and women stand for the council because they want a role in public life. They fully expect to be accountable to the electorate, their decisions carefully scrutinised by press and public.

But what has happened over the last few days has not been an exercise in holding councillors to account. It has been a naked attempt to frighten individuals into doing the bidding of certain interests. We see this as a threat to proper and considered decision-making, which is wholly unacceptable.

Barbara Janke, Leader of the Council