YOUR paper recently gave space to a comment by Coun Charles Vernon about the failure to have contested elections for seats on the town council.

In his view it was due to apathy.

I wonder if it has occurred to Coun Vernon (now Mayor Vernon) that the lack of interest may not in fact have been attributable to this, but to a widespread perception that the town council in fact does very little for Malmesbury, and costs us rather more than is justified by this.

No doubt when the town council was first set in place it did indeed act as the debating forum and prime mover for a whole range of matters which affected Malmesbury at the time.

And no doubt those elected did their very best to represent the interests of Malmesbury.

But nowadays we have a number of local associations such as the Malmesbury and St Paul Without Residents Association, the Malmesbury District Road Safety Group, and the Malmesbury Preservation Trust, all of whom do their best to represent the views of their members and local opinion.

There is also direct e-mail communication with the local authority, and the People's Voice Panel which regularly samples public opinion on a broad range of issues.

In view of the fact that elections for seats on the town council have not been contested for many years, it does seem to me that there is a very real question mark over the need for this body.

And in particular one which costs us all quite a lot of money each year, for it employs a town clerk and staff, and the precept keeps going up.

I for one would be content to retain the town council if it can be shown that we are getting value for money, but this may well be rather difficult to prove.

Much of what they do is almost certainly dependent upon the view taken of the need for it.

Very little I suspect will be supported by an obvious detrimental effect on the town if it were to cease.

However perhaps our new councillors will be willing to take up the challenge and show us why we need not just a town council but a town clerk and staff.

I should add that I have nothing against these good people. I t is merely that I question the need for these posts.

In addition you might consider asking the people of Malmesbury to give you their views on this matter and to publish them in your paper.

In so doing you would be serving the community by helping to determine the need or otherwise of a tier of local government which at present seems questionable.

W G BLAKE

Malmesbury