I AM sorry to take issue with former colleagues, but I am concerned that cuts being proposed by the city council to certain basic services are gravely mistaken.

Last year, while I was still a member of the city council, I was prepared to vote against the budget if a proposal to close the Cornmarket toilets and replace them with a single APC (Automatic Public Convenience) went ahead. The proposal was subsequently dropped, but this year, the council's proposals dwarf those to which I objected.

Using the council's own figures from last year, the estimated annual use of the Cornmarket toilets is 200,000. The estimated annual use of the replacement APC is 21,900, while the existing APC in Copenhagen Street recorded a usage of only 4,280.

From these figures it is clear that the council's proposals to close all public conveniences in Worcester and replace them with APCs involves a cut in the service provided to citizens, and to the visitors who we hope to encourage, of about 90 per cent.

The proposed cuts in refuse collection also raise problems that need more serious examination. Residents with large gardens may be able to hide these unsightly wheelie-bins out of harm's way, but many people are not so lucky.

The stench of rotting garbage left for a fortnight close to living quarters in summer heat is not an attractive prospect for those living or visiting our city and must surely pose a health risk.

I appreciate that the city council is currently under-funded by the Government and still wishes to keep its council tax increase down to the rate of inflation. The present proposals seem to be based upon the assumption that Worcester will suffer under-funding indefinitely, with no prospect of improvement whatever government is in power and whatever method of financing local government is devised in the future.

Hence cuts in basic services are being planned that will be almost impossible to reverse in better times when they may be seen to have been dreadfully short-sighted.

MARY DRINKWATER,

County Councillor, Worcester.