GRANVILLE Broadhurst's recent outburst (Letters, February 4) as the unofficial opposition mouthpiece in Hyndburn borders on the absurd.
There is, however, a well known cure for sufferers of Tory hysteria - a small injection of truth.
Council Tax bills are made up of two parts. About 80 per cent goes to the county council to pay for things like schools, social services and libraries. The rest pays for the district council services like parks, environmental health and refuse collection.
This year, the county council has announced that its charge will need to rise in order to maintain the services it provides. Mr Broadhurst is quite wrong, however, when he predicts that there will be large rises in the district element too. In the past 12 months alone, Hyndburn Council has reduced its spending by about £800,000. In the year ahead, we will doubtless look for further savings - all of which helps to keep the cost of district council services down.
The question of whether or not local government could be improved if responsibility for all services were passed to local unitary authorities rather than being split between county and district authorities is, for the present at least, academic. Contrary to Mr Broadhurst's ill-informed assertions, Hyndburn Council took an open-minded approach to this during the local government review of some three years ago. And when all the hot air is set aside, three points remain.
It was Tory government that instigated the review. It was a Tory Government that appointed the specialists who undertook the review. And finally, at a cost of several million pounds later, it was a Tory government that decided that in Hyndburn things should remain just as they are.
So, come on, Granville, stop carping from the sidelines and start facing up to the fact that Hyndburn Council is a well-managed organisation, run by dedicated councillors who represent local views and a hard-working and professional staff who do a good job serving the local community. If you must lecture from your soapbox, then please try to at least get the story straight next time.
COUNCILLOR GEORGE SLYNN (leader), Hyndburn Council, Lomax Street, Great Harwood.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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