I AM really curious about the ‘advisory poll’ we are being asked to take part in regarding the future of local government in Somerset, as I suspect the way we cast our votes will make absolutely no difference to the outcome.

Somerset will become a unitary authority on the say so of Robert Jenrick, our Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

I’m guessing that the decision has already been made and this ‘vote’ is mere window dressing.

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I further note that this will have cost implications, as nothing is for free, and yet, strangely, not so long ago on local television I saw our Conservative leader, David Fothergill castigating advocates of ‘Two Councils for Somerset’ for wasting money on a poll of their own.

Apparently, what’s sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander as we in turn received from Cllr Fothergill and Cllr Purbrick an ‘invitation to shape the future of local government in Somerset’.

Really? A likely story.

For myself and perhaps for others, small is still beautiful.

I have little or no desire for Somerset with its many different areas to become an amorphous mass, detached from ordinary people and their needs and desires.

ANN HAM
Taunton