IF THE article about the BCP bid for the Barclays building in Poole is correct, I can no longer stay silent about the debacle which is growing since the merger of Poole Bournemouth and Christchurch councils.

There seems to be very little understanding of ‘public service’ among many of the local councillors and the blinding attraction of building a personal powerhouse will bankrupt our local services.

The talk of regeneration is, from what I have read, a culture of spend, spend and spend again on projects which are far beyond the affordability of our council’s income. Just a glorified ‘ego’ trip.

It’s very easy to spend money which is not your own.

I remember when the plan for the regeneration of Poole was drawn up in the 1950/60s when there was very little money in the coffers at Poole Borough Council.

My father, Freddy Rowe and his colleagues (of all political persuasions) on the council were determined to put the name of Poole back on the map and went out to encourage the investment of large private companies to move to Poole bringing with them many key workers and employment for our local workforce.

I believe that the land for development was probably leased to those companies and the magic of ‘a beautiful place to live’ was born at that time.

Barclays House was the biggest and became the UK headquarters of Barclays Bank Plc - a tremendous asset.

The Arndale Centre (now the Dolphin Centre) was also a private investment project.

The finance to build the arts centre (The Lighthouse) and the Dolphin Swimming Poole was raised mainly from local families and businesses but may have been topped up by government.

The Aldermen and councillors of that day actually went out to attract investment.

These were men and women who put their town and local people first.

They didn’t rack up huge expenses, in fact I believe the only expenses they were afforded was ‘petrol’ money.

For goodness sake BCP councillors, get your act together and ‘serve’ the people who gave you your jobs.

GILLIAN BROOKES

Erpingham Road, Poole