AFTER attending the recent public meeting about the merger at the Priory Church on Monday 20th November we in the Labour Party feel that Christchurch council's strategy regarding the merger with Bournemouth and Poole is at last clear. There is no strategy.

This was a missed opportunity to properly inform the public about the options.

When asked about the cost of providing statutory services in Christchurch, Councillor Colin Bungey made it clear that there was no prospect of Christchurch becoming a unitary authority. So, we now know that Christchurch is not seeking to go alone as a separate unitary authority but will remain a secondary tier authority and will not be seeking to provide statutory services. This is news to us and many others I am sure.

We are now therefore told that remaining alone is not a viable option by our elected representatives and that to provide certainty for the future they are exploring deals with Hampshire and New Forest District council. Try selling that to the population of Hampshire when they are trying to cut £56 million from their Adult Social Care budget over the next two years and face teaming up with Christchurch where over 30% of the population is over 65 (twice the national average).

Councillor David Jones alluded to remaining part of rural Dorset who like a fairy godmother would continue to provide us with Adult Social Care and Children’s Services. So the status quo is also an option.

As for discussing a contingency plan should these "high level" talks fail and Christchurch remains alone, there was no real appetite but no doubt everything will work out in the end.

To us it now appears clear that these councillors are way out of their depth and have their heads firmly stuck in the sand.

We expected so much more from this meeting and some sort of clarity about what people would be voting for in the referendum. It was so disappointing and the only contributions from councillors that appeared to recognise the harsh reality came from Claire Bath, Ray Nottage and Susan Spittle. I am a Labour supporter and have no connections with these individuals.

Admittedly the challenge of dealing with Adult and Children's statutory services may be small when compared to trying to repair a small zig zag path down a cliff face without making a complete mess of it, but when they have solved this vital issue perhaps we can have more faith in them to take us forward to a brave new future.

JULIAN SPURR

Fairfield, Christchurch