Mr Penny proposes to ignore inflation and cut services/waste by five per cent each year for three years - in real terms at least a 25 per cent cut in services by the end of year. I believe even the Courier put its price up recently from 42 to 45p due to inflationary pressures.

Mr Penny appears to be assuming that local government always performs poorly and is inefficient - this is the same as stating that firms that make large profits appear to be greedy. Is he aware that local government is already subject to 'efficiency savings of a least three per cent per year' as a result of government legislation and his proposals on top would mean that some councils would not be able to continue.

He appears not to be aware that most services provided by councils are statutory - eg concessionary bus fares for the elderly - and if the councils did not provide these, due to lack of funds, they would be acting illegally.

Other non-statutory services such as parks and tourism attract tourists to the area, creating wealth and jobs for the local population. Leisure centres, for example, have many uses too, teaching children to swim and helping to fight the nation's growing obesity problem - they are also filling the gap in the market left when many private health clubs close.
Furthermore I'm sure he would be the first to complain if his bins were not emptied, streets not swept, libraries closed and police were non-existent.

I also chuckled at the comment that a 'committee of successful businessmen/council tax payers is created to set service level targets and ensure they are properly measured and monitored'. Surely the successful businessmen are too busy running their own companies during these difficult times, unless he means people such as bankers who have recently 'left' their firms and now have spare time on their hands.
The council tax payers on this committee (he didn't specify the size of this committee) are also likely to be less objective as councillors and would seek to have services in their own area, rather than the area of most need. Perhaps Mr Penny is volunteering his services (free of charge of course in order to keep costs down) as I assume he must be a successful businessman to come up with such innovative proposals for local government.

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) is proposing hundreds of job losses and the other Warwickshire boroughs and districts are likely to make many staff redundant too, so these organisations are not immune to the credit crunch.

WCC and Warwick District Council (WDC) are both Conservative-led administrations, a party that is renowned for the removal of what they deem 'waste and inefficiency'. These administrations now appreciate how hard it is to run a local authority, meeting the complex and diverse needs of its electorate.

Recently, WDC leader Coun Doody commented on the cost of the concessionary fare scheme and how it was causing a disproportionate increase in the council tax. I believe that Mr Penny fails to understand any of these issues.

If he feels so strongly about running councils why doesn't he stand for the WCC elections in June or future elections for the district and town councils. If elected he would be able to implement some of his proposals and be paid a councillor's allowance for doing so.

He would then realise that it's very easy to criticise (especially without knowing all the facts) but difficult to actually do something that makes a positive difference to the local population. - Andy Crump, UNISON branch secretary, Warwick District Council.