LANCASHIRE County Council may be engaged in a charm offensive with voters as its existence is threatened by the introduction of regional government.

But if part of the strategy entails getting more people to know and understand its workings through better and more simple communication with the public -- through cutting out jargon and using plain English -- then it will be no bad thing.

For one of the drawbacks County Hall encounters is that it is seen as a remote and complex organisation even though it daily provides people with most of their essential public services.

And if users of those services are to appreciate them more and know more about them, then getting closer to the people by talking their language may be the way to achieving it.

So in comes a new rule book for council officers and training for councillors that calls for a spade to be a called a spade and ditching of words such as 'aggregate,' 'dwelling' and 'aforementioned.' The necessity for a written guide to plain words and expressions may be questionable when plain common sense would suffice.

But when local government inspires so much apathy and indifference among people -- as the dismal turn-outs at council elections show -- then any effort to reverse this deserves a try, even if self-preservation may lurk a little in this one.