IMAGINE you are the Headteacher of a school with funding problems.

You decide to save money by merging with another school, which is almost bankrupt, and making many of the staff redundant.

You offer a redundancy package to everyone who wants one.

Every Maths teacher leaves.

'OK', you think, 'we won't teach Maths any longer. Is that a problem?'

'Oops, it's part of the National Curriculum. We'd better find some new Maths teachers immediately.'

You find you have spent twice the money budgeted for redundancies and you are still short of essential staff.

The parents will just have to cough up. At this point, the Governors give you the sack, leaving a new Head to pick up the pieces of your colossal mismanagement of public funds.

That just wouldn't happen in a well run school.

But it is precisely what has just

happened to the newly merged Taunton Deane and West Somerset Councils

.

The former Conservative leadership of Taunton Deane claimed that they would 'do more for less money' and then did the exact opposite.

Costs rocketed while services were slashed.

READ MORE:

Council set to approve redundancy payouts of more than £100,000

The ludicrous result is that the new council has ended up paying some staff redundancy money to leave their jobs and then having to employ someone else to do the same job because it is essential !

To add insult to injury, the whole sorry story was concealed until after the local elections, when the Conservatives were roundly defeated and the Liberal Democrat administration now has to put it right, while the council tax payer foots the bill!

ALAN PAUL

Taunton