IT IS easy for people to sit on the sidelines and criticise Bournemouth Council for taking the essential steps to protect the services that Bournemouth residents rightly expect from us.

My old friend Geoff Cooper accuses our indefatigable Councillor John Beesley of arrogance in dismissing the opinions of the public.

May I remind him that it is just six months since the local elections when the public gave an overwhelming vote of confidence in the current administration. Unfortunately, they didn’t have such faith in candidate Mr Cooper, who stood but was not elected.

We only have to look at the local news to see our nearby south coast neighbours making massive service cuts, staff redundancies, with strikes, dissent and anxiety about the future.

Thanks to Cllr Beesley’s foresight, Bournemouth is not suffering the same fate, despite a big drop in funding from the Government.

We are cutting out unnecessary bureaucracy, whilst ensuring that our streets are cleaned, people are cared for, our recycling stays amongst the best in the country, weekly dustbin collections continue, our economy thrives in the current downturn, our gardens and beaches win awards and our visitors still want to come to the best resort in Britain.

In common with many forward-looking councils throughout the country, we have realised that we need help in achieving this, hence our association with outside experts, who have already showed us how to save a great deal of money as well as conduct our business in a more efficient way. It is early days, but we are doing what the public have entrusted us to do.

CLLR ANNE FILER, Bournemouth Borough Council