Last week, the Government minister responsible for it conceded that council tax has reached the limits of acceptability for many.

What this means is that those on fixed and lower incomes are least able to absorb tax rises of 12 per cent or so each year.

Yet the Government seems to remain unsympathetic to counties like Worcestershire, which it assesses as affluent and in need of relatively low financial support. It remains to be seen whether funding from Whitehall will be sufficient to maintain county services next year, or whether there will be above-inflation calls on taxpayers to plug the gaps.

The borough council doesn't maintain roads or schools or provide social services directly. We have responsibility for council housing, the environment and other statutory services.

We also have to find money for things like emergency planning and audit costs - areas where this Government has upped the costs without allocating extra funding.

So it's inevitable that services will continue to be reviewed to see if they are provided as efficiently as they can be and to check services we now provide are still relevant and don't prevent us from addressing other significant priorities.

Those priorities are contained in the community strategy. People here want a safe, clean borough with decent amenities and a range of job opportunities.

The quality of the council's performance is assessed through a range of measurements and I hope councillors will agree to make individual councillors more accountable for results by agreeing a role for portfolio holders.

This will promote a climate where more probing questions are asked about why and how particular services are provided.

Challenging the status quo to improve the council's performance is the first step towards addressing priorities people have told us need a high profile.

We need to think about what we want Redditch to be distinguished for in the future. I'd like to think we can have a solid, growing borough where people of all ages want to make their home. I'd like to see more people both living and working here. This is why I've asked the student council to find out the work ambitions of our young people, to see how far we are from the sort of place which will make them feel Redditch can be their long-term home.

Council Leader Gavin Smithers