AGAIN your readers were treated to the oft-repeated diatribe from Tory Gavin Smithers (Letters, March 27).

It was a long letter but the cat came out of the bag in the one sentence, which I quote: 'Our Labour councillors have overspent quite deliberately for years on discretionary services which they say are good for the town.'

These services which he refers to, of course, include free bus travel for pensioners and the disabled, the Dial-A-Ride scheme, Life Line alarms, the Shopmobility electric wheelchairs, the funding of the Play Council to provide for children during school holidays and many others.

What his letter really is is a clear warning to Redditch that if we had a Conservative council, many of these valuable services would disappear.

He also clearly has his sights set on the Countryside Centre and the Forge Mill Museum.

At the meeting when the Redditch council tax figure was set for the year, there were only two real contributions from the opposition benches.

One was from Mrs Gandy, who has now left us to prepare for her round-the-world trip with which I wish her well, and the other was from Mr Smithers.

Oddly enough, one of the main planks in his speech was a case for an even higher council tax for Redditch. Then, despite their huffing and puffing, every single Tory present voted with the Labour members for the figure.

What Mr Smithers has not told Redditch people is that out of every £1 of council tax which we collect, only 16p of it is retained for Redditch Council use. Out of that 16p comes the provision of the services which he seems to want to end.

Albert E Wharrad

Leader

Redditch Council