IF devolution of local government into smaller 'area councils,' being proposed for Blackburn with Darwen by the Liberal Democrats, is rejected by the public on the grounds that they are 'toothless talking shops,' according to council leader Bill Taylor, how is that they are up and running -- and popular -- elsewhere in East Lancashire?

After all, they have them in Pendle and Hyndburn and now Padiham is set to gets its own town council next spring.

Not wanted? You could have fooled me. But if Coun Taylor means they are not wanted by members of the public who are the elected members of a one-party, eight-person cabal which runs local government with highly limited accountability to the rest of the public, well, perhaps, he is right.

After all, it would not be in their interest to surrender power to the ordinary people who pay their taxes, would it? Coun Taylor should stick his elitist notions up his junta and ask just how many people prefer the cabinet set-up in the town hall.