I HAD thought the discredited approach to road transport planning known as ?predict and provide? had been consigned to the dustbin of history. This approach, adopted by governments in the latter part of the 20th century, is generally seen as a disaster. Instead of taking an integrated and strategic view of issues of accessibility and mobility, it was entirely based of satisfying the demands of the road building lobby. Vast areas of our most precious countryside were devastated by new road schemes, towns and cities became increasingly congested and the negative health impacts of air pollution produced by road traffic, such as asthma amongst children, became a major problem. Unfortunately, it is clear that ?predict and provide? is alive and well in the Conservative Party (Letters from Chichester and Mathew, Times, December 16). Perhaps we should not expect any more from the party that ran down British Rail for seventeen years before selling it off on the cheap to its friends in the City. Cllr Mathew claims a superior expertise on matters to do with greenhouse gases but did not feel it necessary to comment on the reference I made in my previous letter (Times, December 9) to the World Health Organisation?s finding that climate change is already causing 160,000 deaths each year. We desperately need politicians who have the humanity and the vision to address this crisis with the seriousness it deserves. Martin Quinn West Devon Green Party 61 Old Exeter Road Tavistock