SIR - So, Mike Foster MP personally favours getting rid of the district councils and going for a county- wide unitary authority (Worcester News December 8).

Is this man in the same party that, when it was on offer in the 1990s, fought very hard to keep the separate districts?

Perhaps his fellow party members on the city council failed to tell him that the majority of them voted against the chance of saving money through countywide co-operation when they opposed shared services at the full council meeting last week.

Perhaps he has not been told that there is no worked-up business case for such a change and hence any rumoured savings are pure speculation.

Perhaps he does not realise that the Government timetable for any applications is so foreshortened that realistic consultation on any such plan is impossible.

Perhaps he has failed to ask how long such a change would take to implement or how much it would cost the county with no offer of Government help.

The best estimates the county can suggest are about two years and somewhere between £5m and £30m, with the higher figure thought the more likely.

Perhaps he should think it through again. Otherwise, he will land his constituents with a bill they do not deserve and a representational system which puts all the real power in the hands of a relatively remote county and an even remoter regional authority.

No, Mr Foster, we know this is regional government by the backdoor and without the embarrassment of a referendum. Therefore, definitely think again.

Coun Barry Mackenzie-Williams, Worcester.