LIKE "Bemused" (Your Letters, Sept 13) I too am bemused, nay amused and possibly even confused, to see that Councillors Byrne, Boden and Wayne Campbell, who may claim to be "champions of equity", are each governors at schools which appear to me to have either high surplus places, or way above average-per-pupil costs, or both!

Is it correct that in one of Coun Boden's schools each pupil receives £600 per year more than the average Bury primary school pupil, while a high school where Coun Wayne Campbell is a governor receives £700 per pupil per year more than the next high school and also has a 24.16 per cent surplus place problem?

Equity? That's a joke. In view of the fact that the council leader and deputy leader are both at schools which appear to have high surplus places, the reasons why other schools are currently being closed strikes me as somewhat odd.

Surely the matter needs to be investigated at the highest level? After all, rightly or wrongly, it could be construed by some that in the Strategic Review of Primary School Places, Coun Stephen Perkins has not abided by the principles of the Code of Conduct for Councillors, namely selflessness, which states that "members should serve only the public interest and should never improperly confer an advantage on each other or any person".

In the same context, some readers may also conclude that Coun Perkins could hardly recommend the closure of schools at which his "bosses" were governors. Were that to have been the case, it would certainly not further his political career, and it would be disadvantageous to two prominent councillors to have their schools targeted for closure when they were seeking re-election.

I am loath to say that I smell a rat but this "do as I say, not as I do" attitude seems to be prevalent right across the Labour Party these days. Perhaps the word "equity" needs re-defining in this borough. And perhaps standards committee chairman Coun John Smith, the council "watchdog", should look into this matter.

UNOFFICIAL COUNCIL WATCHDOG