THAT the departure display has once again broken down at the bus station would not on its own warrant a letter.

Nor would the recent debacle over the posts in the footway on Meeting House Lane, or the fact that the nearby pedestrian crossings were placed where people do not want or need them.

Such is the level of service we have come to expect from the county councillors and officers who year after raise council tax at four times the rate of inflation.

In a few years we will be shot of the county council and be teamed up with Barrow and Kendal as the new Lonsdale and Furness. district. But we will have to be on our guard against those same councillors and officers who have whittled away our money at County Hall trying to do the same in the new authority.

No doubt county cabinet member Cllr Jean Yates and city council leader Cllr Ian Barker are already in discussion about the new authority and how Labour can dominate it.

Cllr Barker's first city budget since being back in power is a warning signal about his introvert style. Cuts have been made in all the things people would like their council tax spent on - recreation, holes in foot-paths, public toilets and so on.

Instead, he is going to spend £2.5 million on yet another set of new computers and software for the Town Hall, £600,000 on offices and £250,000 on the refurbishment of the town hall clock.

Unless we keep close watch, the new Furness and Lonsdale authority will spend millions feathering its own nest for the first few years and asking for another 10 per cent off us each year to pay for it.

Michael Jackson, Lancaster.