IT seems that at the last meeting of Burnley Council, when I was on holiday, Coun Harry Brooks roundly criticised my travel arrangements for attending the Local Government Information Unit annual conference.

He has done so without considering the whole story, which was his for the asking from Mr John Wells. But, of course, that would not have made such good copy.

Coun Brooks specifically criticised the fact that Mr Wells and I travelled by air to Brighton. Had we gone by train, we should have had to travel the previous day and incur the extra costs of an overnight stay.

The net cost of flying was about £130, for which the NHS gained an extra day's work from me and the council, the same from Mr Wells. I think that is value for money, not cash wasting at all.

If going to Brighton for a weekend conference is considered extravagant, then the real question is whether we should have gone at all, not how we chose to go.

The council has been affiliated to the Local Government Information Unit for many years now, and I have been Burnley's representative on its management committee.

The information gained at such an event is extremely valuable and I have reported that information back to the council. Just one example is the information gained about sports lottery bidding, which, if it improves the Council's chances of successful bids, then it seems to me that the time and money was well spent.

The Conference moves around the country and last year was in Manchester. The council's official delegate was another member and I attended at my own expense. This year, there was no such other member available to go. I was pleased to go. I consider the event to have been well worth-while, and I regret no part of the decisions made on this issue.

COUN P J KENYON, Hufling Lane, Burnley.

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