YOU report in some detail (Town Hall Shake Up - Citizen: November 11) the criticisms of MBIs, Tories and Greens of Labour's proposals on modernising the city council. Just as in Citizen Smith a fortnight ago, your readers were given no information about what our proposals actually were.

There is indeed a big shake up on the way but it goes far deeper than the permanent appointment of a chief executive. It is symptomatic of the narrow focus of The Citizen and the parties quoted in your report, that you reported the debate entirely in the terms of this one post.

This week's Queens speech will almost certainly contain a Local Government Bill which will require councils to radically change the way they are run. The Government has signalled its intentions in a series of consultation papers and a draft Bill, yet earlier this year the MBIs, Tories and Greens decided to defer consideration of the issue.

Other councils, however, have made significant progress in the intervening months.

There are some major decisions on which local people must have their say. Do local people want a council run by a leader and cabinet or one run by an elected mayor? Do they want area committees for Lancaster, Morecambe, Heysham and the rural areas or do they want a highly centralised council? Do they want to retain 60 councillors or do they want a slimmed down organisation?

Labour's resolution would have required the council to decide on its preferred options and to consult the electorate on this and on the other alternatives available. It imposed a timetable that would have required public consultation early in the New Year. Once the structure of the new council is apparent, then it is logical to review the management structure and then to make permanent appointments. Tories, MBIs and Greens combined to vote down this consultation. Instead they lumbered us with the nonsense of making permanent senior (and expensive) appointments before a review and of undertaking a management review for a council whose structure is unknown.

Cllr Ian Barker Derwent Rd

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.