Costly and so wasteful

Nov 6 2008

WHEN are people going to wake up to the fact that no matter how local government is funded - council tax, local income tax - it will still cost too much.

To cut down the cost we must cut down the size of local government; do away with all the non-essential services and cut the amount of people who are employed by them.

Over the past 30 years we have reorganised local government twice. Each time the size of it has mushroomed out of all proportion to what local government is meant to be.

Once someone gets a job in the administration of a council they are never paid off if the work no longer exists. These people only make work for themselves, spending money to justify their salaries.

A return to small local government, as it was in the mid-70s, is the only sensible way forward to get value for money once more with accountability built-in.

Eric Davidson.