A good use of taxpayers’ money?

This has caused severe problems for the shops in Crown Way, as for the past three Sundays there has been severe disruption to traffic, and at one stage total closure of the road. During the week there has been continual disruption.

The road is constructed of a series of concrete slabs, so this work only relates to the replacement of the tarmac top-coat together with the addition of bitumen to the expansion joints between the concrete slabs.

When I queried the need for this work, I was informed that there had been numerous complaints about the quality of the road surface, which I found very hard to believe, since though it was not perfect, it was not that bad either, and certainly there were many roads with a greater need for repair. When I tried to get some sense of just who had “complained” I was met with some reluctance to reply.

Last week, before the job was even completed I learned that local councillors were boasting of their success in getting this work done, so one assumes that the so-called complainants were one and the same.

This seems a strange way for councillors to exercise their authority. When council tax is such a burden on so many hard working families, surely the first duty of our elected councillors is the effective oversight of the council’s departments, functions, finances and employees etc. in order to protect the interests of the taxpayer. There are many indications of a real need of some effective supervision of both our district and county councils. Anyone who doubts this should Google the “Town Hall Rich List”, (though this is not recommended for tax-payers who suffer with high blood pressure!!)

Regrettably a significant number of councillors seem to see their jobs as being more akin to that of a community activist, merely trying to get ever more funding for their own little area, whilst being either unable or unwilling to offer any serious direction or control over council departments/spending.

Perhaps the fault lies with the electorate who oddly place more value on party tickets than on management ability. - David Brown, Sandown Close, Lillington.