THE government minister responsible for communities and local government, David Milliband, recently hosted a meeting in Birmingham to discuss the

future role and reform of local councils.

Unfortunately, he forgot to invite

anyone from Bromsgrove District Council. Maybe he overlooked the fact that

the council is currently in voluntary engagement with central government?

There is a hidden government agenda to replace the existing two-tier council

system with unitary authorities and regional government. This is evidenced

by the county council vying to take over services presently provided by the

districts in order to make it a credible choice for the future.

It has its sights set on the jewel in Bromsgrove's crown - the refuse and

recycling collection service and they would like to become both the

collection and disposal authority for waste. What would residents of the district think about yet another wholesale

change to their refuse service?

The current council tax system is not sustainable and small authorities like

Bromsgrove constantly struggle to balance their budgets; while pensioners

and people on fixed incomes have to skin and scrape to fund unaffordable

council tax increases to pay for the inflation-proofed pensions of retired

public employees.

Make no mistake, the plans to merge ambulance services, relocate the fire

service control room, merge the existing primary care trusts and create one

large police force for the West Midlands are all part of the Government's

cunning plan to introduce regional government by stealth. It denies it, of

course.

We must make sure that any future re-structuring of services is workable and

desirable. And the views of the affected local communities must be sought

and respected. Let the debate commence.

Stephen Peters, Chairman -

UK Independence Party Bromsgrove