In the run up to a new financial year and the high probability of inflation-busting increases in council tax, it would be nice to know why, in the rush to achieve unitary status, a Labour-controlled Swindon council took on a vast debt and poorly maintained property portfolio from Wiltshire County Council.

In any such move in the private sector, a process known as 'due diligence' would be undertaken to assess the exact status of the business in question, in order that the interests of shareholders are protected. Does this process apply in the public sector?

Graham Carpenter

Nythe