COUNCILLOR Michael Barrett (Letters, January 22) says he has waited a while before replying to my recent statements. He should have taken longer, then he may have got his facts right.

Most of my comments were critical of the reporting of Blackburn with Darwen Council scrutiny committee meetings, whereby the press sensationalise or trivialise comments to suit their agenda.

I was not on the Regeneration and Technical Scrutiny Committee when the Home Zone issue was discussed and approved. I was, in fact, on the Personal and Community Scrutiny Committee.

The fact that I am now on the Regeneration and Technical Scrutiny Committee provides a further insight into the futility of such talking shops. The principle of scrutiny groups is to question the validity of decisions made by the so-called executive members and make recommendations to improve such a decision.

Despite the well-meaning commitment of members sitting on scrutiny committees, even when a consensus supports the recommendation, the records show that we all wasted our time, as the executive members chose to ignore almost all of the recommendations.

The truth is, the scrutiny process is a joke. It is a figment from the imagination of some do-gooder who thinks that a politician in the exalted position of executive member will ever agree to have his decision questioned by a group which may be influenced by an opposition politician.

The only way to question pending decisions is by debate before the decision has been made. The system of one person tasked to make decisions on his own and without being exposed to some form of debate is seriously flawed.

For an executive member to lose face and be publicly seen to beholding to non-executive back-benchers, including opposition members, is a weakness too great to comprehend.

All Coun Barrett's sanctimonious ramblings in trying to give credence to such a system will not bring back democracy. Sadly, nor will using the local press, but sometimes needs must. The truth is that change in the decision-making process in our town halls has been change for the worse. It's quicker, but rubbish.

COUN ALAN COTTAM (Conservative, Livesey with Pleasington Ward), Blackburn with Darwen Council.