EMMANUEL SCHOOLS: I WAS most concerned to see the link you made between "evangelical Christian schools" and schools sponsored by the Emmanuel Schools Foundation in your report headlined "Schools inspector warns of threat" (Echo, Jan 22).

The figures for "independent faith schools", including evangelical Christian schools, as quoted by an Ofsted spokeswoman, may well be correct. However, to draw a connection between such schools and The King's Academy in Middlesbrough and Emmanuel College in Gateshead is incorrect. Neither is a "faith school" nor an "evangelical Christian school"; indeed the Emmanuel Schools Foundation believes faith schools to be discriminatory.

The schools we sponsor are state-funded comprehensives. They are open, fully inclusive and welcome students and staff from all faiths and none. Our schools do have a Christian ethos, which is based on building a strong moral and spiritual foundation for our students. We seek to create a safe and secure environment where young people can thrive and each student feels valued, happy and confident.

Further, I take exception to us being highlighted in a story that reports on schools which are "failing to help pupils to learn to respect other cultures and promote tolerance and harmony". Our students, who come from many different backgrounds, are taught all the major faiths and belief systems of the world and are encouraged to think about diversity amongst cultures. They are not directed to hold any particular set of beliefs themselves. We believe religious education, which is taught within the guidelines of the national curriculum, to be crucial in helping our children understand the world in which they live and to tolerate and understand opposing views. - David Vardy, Project Director, The Emmanuel Schools Foundation, Durham.

NORTH-EAST ASSEMBLY

I HAVE tabled a motion, to be debated at 10am today at County Hall, Durham, that Durham County Council withdraws its subscription of £84,800 from the North-East Assembly. This is an unelected Government quango which, if allowed, is going to restrict the growth and prosperity of County Durham through its Regional Spatial Strategy.

If all councils cease to fund it, it clearly cannot function.

As 78 per cent of the voters in this county voted against a regional assembly, I would encourage members of the public to make sure their local county councillor supports my motion. - County Councillor John Shuttleworth, Durham

THE unelected North-East Assembly should be scrapped. Now that an overwhelming popular vote has proved the widespread unpopularity of even democratically representative "regional governance", there can be no excuse for raising our council tax to fund the unrepresentative kind.

"Consultation", with carefully selected pressure groups and "stakeholders", is no substitute for direct representation by councillors who actually live within walking distance of your house, when controversial matters are involved.

Why on earth, for instance, should the imposed assembly be in charge of something called "regional spatial planning"?

The North-East is not an empty space. Its towns, villages and counties are inhabited by a couple of million individuals, all with their own particular needs and preferences. To treat these individuals' homes and neighbourhoods as if they were "spaces" ripe for development along the lines preferred by a handful of superior beings who feel they are all-seeing enough to dictate the future is an insult to the families and communities whose lives will be affected.

We must take back powers from central government, and increase local accountability. Planning over wider areas should not be the job of a permanent "regional" body, elected or unelected, but of delegations from local councils given temporary power to deal with each specific project.

Let's hope our councils have the sense to honour the wishes of those who elected them and withdraw all support, financial and otherwise, from the unwanted quango. - Gillian Swanson, Whitley Bay.

COUNCILLOR Shuttleworth's motion (Echo, Jan 27) and Judith Wallace's letter (HAS, Jan 27) focus on the continuing existence of the unelected regional assembly almost three months after the electorate in the North-East massively rejected the proposal in the referendum for elected regional government.

This existing unelected assembly of place-men has been given a key role by Government in the planning process that includes responsibility for the preparation of a spatial strategy for the guidance of developers, covering developments such as housing projects and wind farms.

Decisions on these major projects have been taken out of the hands of our local authorities. This is undemocratic and should be of major concern to all in the North-East.

With an early General Election likely, Darlington voters, who voted by four to one that they do not want anything to do with regional government, might legitimately ask their MP, Alan Milburn, who has been given a key role in drafting the Labour Party's manifesto, what his party's intentions are to meet his constituents' demands. - A Speirs, Democracy Movement NE, Northumberland.

ELDER ABUSE

I WAS appalled to read (Echo, Jan 14) that the nurse who abused elderly people won a payout of £15,000 because his employers did not meet the seven-day deadline for completing the internal investigation, despite the fact that the police were investigating the case.

This man was convicted of assaulting elderly patients while in charge of the night shift of a care home in North Shields. He was paid to serve vulnerable people and not only did he fail to do this, but he has affronted their dignity.

It is obscene that he is now benefiting from an organisation - who are forced to consider his rights - that he let down in a way that is indefensible.

What about the rights of those elderly people who were his victims? I hope someone in a position of power is advocating for them and ensuring that he compensates them for the abuse they suffered at his hands and that a big chunk of his £15,000 finds its way back to those people who really deserve justice. - Marie Gressmann, Esh Winning.

IRAQ

THERE are many lessons that Iraq can teach.

Hopefully, George Bush and Tony Blair will have learnt that decisions should be based on truth and good information and that "war is hell".

We can also learn from the current election process - we should recognise that the right to vote is precious - important enough to cost the lives of people literally being blown apart.

Democracy is a precious thing which should not be taken lightly. Let us remember that when we get the privilege of voting freely, without fear or the need for armed guards, later this year. - Robert Adamson, Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Darlington.