First of all the borough council welcomes debate regarding the Boundary Committee’s proposal to replace Norfolk’s county and district councils with one huge authority.

What we do not welcome is change which will be to the detriment of local people and our view is that this is not the best solution for West Norfolk.

Ultimately the decision will be made by the Secretary of State and over the coming weeks the Boundary Committee will be seeking the views of stakeholders across the county.

All the submissions can be viewed at www.

electoralcommission.

org.uk and we are encouraging people to have their say by emailing reviews@boundary

committee.org.uk or by writing to Review Manager (Norfolk and Suffolk Review), The Boundary Committee for England, Trevelyan House, Great Peter Street, London SW1P 2HW.

In response to Mr Oldfield’s comments regarding the borough council’s performance I would like to refer to the Audit Commission’s Annual inspection letter March 2008 which rated our services as “good”, highlighting an improvement across 64 per cent of performance indicators over the past year – which is above average for all district authorities and compares well with our “large” county council where 60 per cent showed improvement.

Of the services for which the borough council is responsible, 32 per cent of our performance indicators are in the top quartile while 25 per cent of Norfolk County Council’s indicators are above the best quartile break point.

Of course residents expect us to get maximum value from council tax and I would like to remind readers that the borough council’s share of their council tax has risen by just 1.9 per cent over the past five years whereas the county council share has risen by a whopping 17 per cent over the same period.

With “big hitting professional managers” commanding annual salaries of as much as £200,000, council tax certainly will have to go a long way if services to areas up to 75 miles apart are to be maintained – never mind improved. (note Emneth – Great Yarmouth 79 miles).

Cllr Nick Daubney, leader, Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk