I NOTICED that in last week’s paper, Councillor Snaith was calling for the abolition of Wycombe District Council. At least I think that is what he is calling for because in his letter it is not very clear. At one stage he is calling for a single, Unitary, council to replace the three tier system common in Buckinghamshire but in other places he is calling for High Wycombe to have a Town Council, creating the third tier that he criticises.

He claimed that residents of the surrounding towns and villages that have parish or town councils see the benefits that they receive from their lowest tier council. Let us look at Princes Risborough, this council has been in the paper recently because of an argument over democracy regarding the cost of having a by-election. A senior member of that council was quoted as proudly saying that they have not had a by-election in 30 years, if a vacancy occurs on the council they just co-opt one of their friends to fill the gap. This is from a council which has increased its share of the council tax by 28% over the past 10 years as compared to High Wycombe Town where the precept has risen by 18% in the same period.

I see that Cllr Snaith claims that as a district councillor he is unable to represent the concerns of his constituents. I have no such problem, nor do my colleagues. I believe that having an extra layer of local government with the additional councillors that would entail, would confuse people rather than making it simpler. And where would these extra councillors come from? At the last district council elections, the Conservative Party was the only one to field candidates for every seat. What would happen is that the same people would be put up by the political parties to fight the different levels of local government. How would this improve democracy?

At the moment members of the district council representing town wards are members of the High Wycombe Town Committee which discusses and manages the assets that a Town Council would have responsibility for such as recreation grounds, allotments and the cemetery. I believe that the current system allows this to be done more cost effectively than by having the separate bureaucracy of another council.

As an example of the additional costs involved in setting up a Town Council, in 2002 Aylesbury Town decided to go along this route. In 2002 the Council Tax for a band D resident of Aylesbury was 126.9p, ten years later, as a Town Council, the cost is 228.88p, an increase of over 81% compared to High Wycombe’s increase of 18%. I think most people would rather have money in their pockets than fund a new, or perhaps not so new, tier of local politicians.

Cllr Tony Green, pictured, Chairman of the High Wycombe Town Committee, Wycombe District Council