BLACKBURN Council is seeking to borrow £8million to foot the bill for winning independence, it is reported today.

But do we read between the lines of this disclosure that a wages gravy train for town hall bosses is getting up steam already?

We hope not.

For amid the revelation of the council's borrowing bid to cover the shift to unitary status in April, 1998, there is the intriguing announcement of special seminars - costing some £2,500 themselves - so that the right people are chosen to run the new authority free of the old county council bonds.

But while the complex transition to self-rule cannot be without short term extra costs for the town's council tax payers - and bearing in mind the often-alarmist sums predicted from County Hall during its bid to prevent Blackburn's breakaway - two sound points must be borne in mind by these borrowers.

The first is that, for all the shake-up, the people of Blackburn will be getting virtually the same local authority services as before. The only difference will be that, in the main, they will come from one council, not two.

It is perfectly reasonable, then, that the costs to them in council tax should be no more in real terms than it was before - and that the quality of the services should be as good, if not better, than before.

That is the goal that councillors should set for themselves and the officers they appoint for the new Blackburn.

And this provides no excuse for a wages beano.

Let council leaders understand at the outset that while Blackburn may be entering a sort of local government premier league, the game is still the same in terms of what services are being provided.

Far too often consumers of public services have seen bosses' salaries rocket when such changes take place, with absolutely no benefit coming to them.

In the water industry, for instance, we have seen the same bosses, delivering the same services as before, using privatisation as an excuse for pumping up their pay.

In the NHS, following the transition to trust status, managers have reaped huge pay rises - though there has been no difference in the service they deliver to patients.

So, gearing up for the change at Blackburn, councillors must, as they seek the right people for the job, bear in mind what the consumers think is the right pay for the job.

And if services are to be the same, the pay bill should be about the same, right?

Let us insist, then, that in this £8million they are seeking, there is no provision for a new lot of fat cats.

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