I REFER to the front page item in the Review, October 16 on Council Tax increase.

Conservatives have claimed to be the party of sound financial management and low Council Tax at elections over the years.

It comes as a surprise therefore that Gloucestershire councils are now planning to raise Council Tax when they were supposed to have streamlined administration and cut down waste.

To quote just one example of hard-working Council Tax payers’ money down the drain, the decade-long saga of the Javelin Park incinerator culminating in letting a multi-million pound contract fail days before the planning committee was supposed to decide on its acceptability, which was subsequently rejected unanimously.

The ensuing planning enquiry was a poor example of project planning and a total farce wasting further millions.

The decision by city and district councils introducing multi-bin waste collections before the county had decided how to dispose of the collected waste was a textbook example of how not to manage waste contracts.

Doubt if those in charge understand what integrated waste management is about.

The multi-bin recycling collections cost an arm and a leg while returning a pittance in recycled material sale.

It also results in an increase in the county’s overall carbon foot-print in the transport and disposal processes including composting of green and food waste.

Pity the county waste partnership and the collection authorities had ignored advice from Defra (Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the then Secretary of State Eric Pickles who had offered additional funds for bringing back weekly single-bin collections which would have saved millions in the long run.

Overall a poor show with the hard working taxpayers left to pick up the bill for this saga of poor political direction on the part of the councillors and poor management.

– Venk Shenoi, Blaisdon.