SIR,---Mrs, Clegg provides the answer to her question in the
penultimate paragraph of her letter published in last week's Spectator.
The only snag with all of us is, of course, money and the prime reason for the regrouping is to attempt to remedy this by entrusting authorities with func- tions commensurate with their resources, How can Bishop's Castle hope to provide all the services required by modern standards from a rateable value of £13,933? If the Government provides the money, then the Government will control its spending.
The ultimate choice before local government is the rationalisation of resources into areas large enough to do the job and thus retain independence or to suffer the removal of the major services from local District Councils to County Councils with complete loss of control and no reduction in rates. The two- tier proposal seems sensible, providing the new districts are not too large and have a certain com- munity of interest and it has always been my conten- tion that the best people to negotiate a durable solution are the authorities involved.
There is a great danger the democratic interest may be sacrificed to the economic one. One of the submerged purposes of regrouping is, no doubt, to bring the amenities of the rural districts up to those of the urban and in this connection I regard it as essential that representation should not be too numerous and strictly in proportion to the popula- tion or the electors.
Bishop's. Castle will lose much that is decorative but like Whitchurch retain control as a Parish Coun- cil of many functions by right and may have others delegated to them in addition to sending representa- tives to the local District Council.
Bromfield, WhitcluOvh, Salop
R. S. ROWLAND
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