BARELY a day goes by without our being subjected to another round of local authority spending cuts. We have now 'cut to the bone' is the expression which is often used. But have we?

On a TV programme a few weeks ago the mayor of Bristol was interviewed and remarked that his council had far more elected representatives than a comparable city in America. The figures he gave were, as far as I remember, 70 councillors for Bristol and 12 for the city in America. He also indicated that the vast majority of his decisions were made by a small cabinet representing all political parties who worked well together.

Be that as it may, I have just done some research and find that for a population 1,133,742, Devon County Council has 62 councillors, a ratio of one councillor to 18,286 of the population. Comparing this to the City of Des Moines in Iowa, the whole thing is run by seven councillors (including the mayor). A ratio of one councillor to every 29,062 of the population.

If we add in the number of district councillors in Devon on top of the county councillors (frankly I have no idea how many but they must run in to hundreds) then the numbers spiral to a huge difference. A random sample of our local population would demonstrate that the vast majority do not even know who their district and county councillors are let alone what they actually do.

All of these district and county councillors are, I am sure, sitting on countless committees, claiming quite legitimate travelling expenses and attendance allowances, however I am sure it not only must amount to a huge cost but, in addition, may well slow down the whole process of local government administration to no good purpose.

I am not getting at anybody personally and would certainly not claim to be an expert in this matter but do we really need so many councillors when, in America, at what is a fairly cursory glance, they appear do it with vastly smaller numbers. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas and I am sure you will receive many letters from councillors explaining in great detail the massive amount of work they do, and I look forward to reading them carefully, but if, at the end of the day, we are having to slash spending on community care, road repairs and refuse collection, should we not be taking a long hard look at the political administration of all our local authorities first?

Richard Leonard

Thorndon Cross

Okehampton