OUR council, like many others, is being forced to make cuts to all its services.

Up to now the council says it has managed to do that without affecting front line services.

Statements like that give the impression that they have been wasting money in the past. When looking for ways to make cuts, the council like all good businesses should start at the top, by that I mean themselves.

Prior to the invention of the silicon chip, which has led to the industrial revolution we have today, there was a need to have three councillors for every ward to provide continuity with one being re-elected every year. This worked very well. Now I suggest is a time for change. By embracing modern technology, I have to ask, do we really need three councillors for every ward.

At present we have 48 councillors, three for each of sixteen wards in St Helens, this at a time when modern technology is advancing rapidly, I believe this is one too many.

The remaining councillors could then stand for re-election every two years; while the overall cost having sixteen less councillors (each one receives £7626 each as an allowance) is not a massive amount it would be a start and show the people of St Helens that the councillors themselves are not immune to cuts.

What I have stated previously is only a start. What I would very much like is a return to the early seventies prior to the Edward Heath administration in Westminster. It was his government that introduced the present system. Before that, councillors did not receive allowances at all, the only remuneration they received was payment for the loss of earning (from their work when doing council business) and travelling expenses etc. In my view this was a much better system.

While what I have written is about St Helens, and is not meant to be party political, more massive savings can be made both locally and nationally, but this has to come from central government.

E.A.Molyneux, Haydock