SIR - Regarding your story "County councillors vote against bid to scrap the districts" (Worcester News, December 15).

Turkeys wouldn't vote for Christmas, so neither would one expect county and district councillors to vote for a unitary authority.

The judgement of councillors is clearly clouded by self interest rather than a passion to provide value for money to the long-suffering council charge payer.

The failure of the existing two-tier system is evidenced by the poor quality of services and the fact that the annual increase in council tax has considerably exceeded inflation for many years.

Unitary authority status presents the opportunity to take a fresh look at the purpose and structure of local government and to streamline the operation by stripping out all the unnecessary bureaucracy.

Considerable manpower reductions can be achieved through more effective working arrangements and centralisation of functions which are presently repeated in each of the six district council's offices.

If democracy means government by the people, we must have our say and the decision as to whether or not to opt for unitary authority status cannot rest with councillors alone.

Despite the implications that such a decision may have on all who live and work within the county, most charge payers are oblivious that plans for unitary status have been mooted. The deadline for submission of the plans to the Communities and Local Government Secretary is January 25.

The Worcester News must be more pro-active in providing analysis and comment, canvassing opinion and leading a campaign for consultation.

Radical change is what is required and the promise to give the council's officers the clarity and direction they require to go forward and explore how to make savings is a sound bite only which will soon be forgotten and certainly not lead to the council tax reductions which would ultimately have been achieved through the unitary option.

Robert Hartwright, Worcester.