THE other day, I chanced to read minutes of Blackburn with Darwen Council and although they gave little indication of what the Council discusses, one item caught my eye.

Apparently, there is to be a "citizens' panel "to advise councillors of the electorates' wishes."

The thought that crosses my mind is that as ward councillors, unless sitting on the "Cabinet" panel, are now to be only supernumeraries, do we really need them?

The Cabinet could be directly elected by the whole electorate under a proportional representative system.

The money saved from the salaries of the 50 surplus councillors could be used for the benefit of the people.

L LAWES, Bold Street, Accrington.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.