WHAT’S the difference between dinosaurs and our prehistoric local councils in Bucks?

Answer: Unlike the dinosaurs, our councils know how to survive extinction.

You can just imagine it. A meteorite hits Earth and wipes out 99 per cent of the planet’s population.

But come the next Tuesday, there will be a full council meeting in Queen Victoria Road, High Wycombe, with members voting to preserve the 60 seat authority and pledging to work alongside the county council in Aylesbury to ‘create strategies going forward’.

No matter there is no population to serve any longer, because there will still be an urgent need in these people’s minds for committees, sub committees, mayors, leaders, chief executives, chairmen and senior officers.

A statement from Wycombe District Council would read: “We understand there is a need to save resources at this time, but if we reduce our management capacity any further at this time, we would risk not achieving these savings and would risk not delivering sustainable projects for the future to rebuild our communities.”

In fact, I can see a day after Armageddon when the only people left alive are councillors and officers. Look on the bright side, though, at least their public consultation exercises would be easier and less controversial to manage.

I say all this in jest, but I am incredibly frustrated having seen first hand over 17 years as an editor how local government avoids major sensible reform so nimbly.

Way back in the 1990s, there was a very worthy move to scrap Bucks County Council and create unitary local authorities closer to home. Somehow, after much lobbying, County Hall was saved and the status quo kept intact.

In the early 21st Century we have seen private businesses go through all sorts of dramatic changes and downsizes as the economy has gone into meltdown. And yet, despite some cuts, our councils have largely remained intact. The old empires have stayed, despite all logic, and the lack of effective democracy is plain to see.

Residents often find themselves passed from pillar to post on issues because there are so many councils involved, and more bizarrely many councillors fill seats on two or three local authorities.

Last year, county council chief executive Chris Williams revealed £35m could have been saved a year from 2006 had the councils in Bucks been merged. Instead, councillors tried to go for a softer option of sharing services, which they called Pathfinder. This inevitably fell apart, costing us £1.2m.

Last March, I was delighted to be summoned to a meeting with the leaders of Wycombe, Chiltern and South Bucks district councils. They told me they were embarking on a plan to save masses of money by merging their teams of senior officers.

This would obviously have meant job losses, and I would be genuinely sorry for anyone suffering as a result. But the move sounded sensible and the start of an exciting new era.

Guess what? Two weeks ago, we had it confirmed that Wycombe District Council had decided to opt out of the change, although Chiltern and South Bucks were still going ahead.

A WDC statement said: “Since March, our whole organisational transformation savings programme has become more refined; this savings programme will deliver projected savings of £4m over four years.”

It added (and you will see what inspired my previous quip): “We were concerned that if we reduced our management capacity any further at this time, we would risk not achieving these savings and would also risk the delivery of major projects such as the new sports centre.”

It’s a reasonable excuse, yes, but there are always similar reasons for avoiding change. Our councils have become expert at it and will continue to survive anything and cling on to the old illogical empires.

The world will go on changing, but local government in Bucks will always be the same. I suppose it’s comforting in a way as you grow older and life alters beyond recognition.

To crudely paraphrase the great First World War poet Rupert Brooke: “If we all should die, think only this: That there’s some corner of Bucks that is forever still holding council meetings.”