ON a first point, we have the opposition councillors accusing the new Tory administration of "breaking their promises".

And we're to be surprised?

Don't we know this is what Tories do?

International withdrawal agreements signed off with the EU and then, 12 months later, from Johnson government: "We've changed our minds", and we get Internal Market legislation driving a coach and horses through the EU agreements.

And that apart, with public service workers having pay frozen, some 20 million in the country in ever growing debt, millions thrown into unemployment, it is as ever beyond belief that any council would even think to put allowance rises on agendas, at this time of all times.

I say to any and all councillors, how do you as ward councillors justify your £1,000 a month cheques?

Fact is we simply do not know what councillors are doing, or are supposed to be doing.

They are accountable to no-one.

To receive their allowances all they have to do, in law, is attend one council meeting a year.

Cases in point, this autumn we have in our area as residents dealt with major fly-tips, on our own.

Councillors time and again to be blunt proving themselves not up to the job.

And seven years ago the loss of public toilets.

We were told there would be a "community scheme" which then turns into pixie dust on the point no outlets - not surprisingly - were offering public use of their toilets.

And keep in mind there are no area meetings, nor do we have ward forums.

In short for me the councillor system turns into political party secret societies.

We pay in but don't know from one month to the next what they are actually doing.

And that said, the greatest respect to those councillors that are working hard to support residents.

If we are then to make the whole £1 million a year system credible we have to have ward forums, on ward websites.

We have every right to know what our elected funded councillors are doing.

Jeff Williams

Parkstone