DEAR EDITOR - I suppose it was inevitable that Councillor Peter McDonald would be unable to avoid engaging in his latest "bash the council's officers" in a recent letter.

He knows that it is almost impossible for Bromsgrove District Council's officers to comment without appearing to enter into the political arena, so as Leader of the Council I feel I should respond.

It must be said that the council has never been described as a "failing" council by either Best Value Inspectors or the Corporate Governance Inspectors. The Best Value Inspection of the council's depot services found that the council provided a "fair" service, not a failing service. Yes, there were areas of performance which were identified as needing to be improved - but equally important, there was an acknowledgement that some of the council's services were at "leading edge". This is not reflected in Cllr McDonald's summary of the report.

The Corporate Governance Inspectors found the council was travelling in the right direction, but needed to change gear and go faster. All authorities are intended to go through corporate governance inspections, and some, like Bromsgrove, have already taken place. I doubt very much whether any local authority is ever going to be found to be perfect, and Bromsgrove District Council does not claim to operate perfectly.

There is, therefore, no sense of complacency prevailing which prevents the coming through of a determination to improve and to drive the authority in the direction of ongoing and progressive improvement. The council's employees, backed by the political management of the council, are committed to this.

Perhaps Cllr McDonald and his group would reasonably be able to criticise the council and its management if it was not for the fact that he and his group managed the council from 1995 to 1999. What we are doing is putting right a number of things which his Labour group should have addressed when it was under their control.

He could not resist the temptation to mention the increase in council tax and concessionary fares.Of course, he does not mention that we are one of only six district councils in the country to receive no Revenue Support Grant from the Government. Or that level of council tax in Bromsgrove remained substantially lower than the level of tax being levied by adjoining councils.

In relation to concessionary fares, he knows the council is committed to and engaged on a review of the concession. He knows that there was no cut in budget for concessionary fares when the Government interfered with what was a perfectly acceptable local scheme operating in Bromsgrove, and he knows that contrary to what he tries to claim, the concessionary fares scheme operated during the time his group was in control, did not provide free travel within the district. Residents of Rubery, Hagley or Alvechurch were limited to the distance they could travel free, and beyond that they had to pay. We are presently trying to find a way of providing a better facility than that, and he knows that too!

Dennis Norton,

Leader - Bromsgrove District Council .