FOR some time now councils have been telling us that times are hard, money is short and that more and more cuts have to be made.

Dorset County Council is no exception to the ongoing bleating and tales of woe; with a freeze on staff pay, redundancies and cutbacks in public services, it has now added the marvellous idea of plunging much of the county into darkness to save an estimated £150,000.

DCC and Dorset Police do not think residents should be informed which roads are to be affected, so an obvious risk factor is thereby acknowledged and presumably they consider people to be either daft or blind.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, namely County Hall, nearly £2.5million is spent on the salaries of 30 management staff ranging from £50,000 to nearly £148,000 each, with the local press recently reporting that an agency worker had been paid £167,000.

No wonder they want to put the lights out: but no doubt many of us could come up with a much more beneficial and intelligent idea to save the money!

R TUCK, Pardy’s Hill, Corfe Mullen, Wimborne