THE letter from Douglas Eyre (November 30) has one very important word missing – democracy!

He and I were instrumental, as council leaders, in campaigning for and achieving public support for the current arrangement of Bournemouth and Poole’s separate unitary authorities. From the very outset we shared some services between the two and with Dorset County Council. That joint provision has increased over the years and has given economies of scale where appropriate.

It has never been necessary to combine the councils to do that. Prior to 2015, plans were in place for a ‘combined authority’ which would have allowed more effective joint working for larger sub-regional projects. It was only after the 2015 local election that the secret plans of Tory council leaders for the merger that is now proposed was revealed, although there is no doubt that plans were in place before the election i.e. they were hidden from the voters.

The plan seems to be to make a council that is as inaccessible to residents as possible. Everyone will have to travel to Bournemouth for planning applications, bus passes, housing applications etc, etc.

Residents in rural Dorset have the benefit of parish and town councils where local issues can be considered. Poole used to have area committees where residents could meet their councillors and take up local issues but instead of the originally planned gradual increase of devolved powers they were made to wither on the vine before finally being scrapped.

One must ask, how will this proposed mega bureaucracy engage with its residents?

BRIAN CLEMENTS, Palmerston Road, Parkstone