AS AN able hardworking former councillor, Ruth Cooke (Letters, January 15) is eminently well qualified to come up with her sensible idea to reduce ward councillors from three to two, in an effort to save/reduce costs to taxpayers. Why not?

And whilst we’re at it, how about pruning some of the overpaid Town Hall fat cats at the top of the council staff pyramid, who enjoy huge salaries for doing fire-proof jobs without the commercial risks facing people in the private sector?

That’s not forgetting massive public sector pensions. They seem to have it all.

As we’re all in this economic mess together, it’s only fair that the public sector shares the pain and ravages of a recession. But will they?

TONY FOWLE, Bradpole Road, Bournemouth