THE former Conservative councillor D Bradley (Postbag, May 17), looking at a Unitary authority, states that we live in a ‘different world’, can no longer expect local government to fund services and must look at how to do things, and therefore pay for things, ourselves.

This just shows how and why the Conservatives are running down our public services. 

Here in Taunton, they are closing our Royal Marines’ base, winding up our historic borough (in a merger with an insolvent council the majority have opposed from the start), closing wards at local hospitals and getting rid of carers and support workers from our councils, whom the most vulnerable rely upon.

Among other things, this reduced spending power is placing a drag anchor effect on our local economy.

If D Bradley really cared about delivering these vital services in cost effective ways then the Conservatives would be advocating the most economically efficient way of delivering them.

It is well known that funding the NHS from income tax that falls on the broadest possible funding base means it is far more cost effective method than buying healthcare privately, for example.

The letter makes it clear, the Conservatives don’t really believe in public service any more, nor in listening to local people.

In addition, their cuts to local services are now paired with the maximum increase in Council Tax, of almost 6 per cent, what I see the local Lib Dems are (rightly) calling the Conservatives’ ‘pay more, get less’ budget.

Yet in a frantic bid to show some sort of action before the 2019 elections, they are now finding millions of pounds (of our money) to fund a favoured private hotel chain, £7 million for the merger with West Somerset, more funds to go on a new car park (also to be owned and run by a private sector operator) and several millions more being spent refurbishing their own offices.

They certainly know how to do things for themselves.

It looks to me like playing Monopoly, with our money, on their pet projects.

Maybe they should have put the public’s money into the kind of good old fashioned public services people believe in and ensured we had again the kind borough we could all take pride in.

It’s clear that only a change in control will make that happen.

PIPPA EARL
Taunton