Chain reaction!

SIR - It is with amazement that I read in your columns that the Ottery Town Council should even consider spending �1,500 of the tax payers’ money on a new chain of office for the lord Mayor – what planet do they operate from?

Don’t they know that we are living in a period of recession? Haven’t they woken up to the fact that everyone is hard-pressed to maintain their own standards of living?

So, the Lord Mayor doesn’t like wearing his shabby regalia in public and in the company of other Lord mayors; I can just imagine them meeting up like a gaggle of unruly schoolchildren, comparing chains with a ‘mine’s a better one than yours’ attitude – the mind boggles.

It is not often that I find myself agreeing with our two independent councillors, both of whom have far too much to say and who generally have a negative attitude to everything, but, on this occasion, I do agree with them, what is more, I contend that it is nothing more than a complete waste of the public purse.

Council tax payers will recall that, just a few short months ago, at the Annual Review of the Council Tax, Devon County Council, East Devon District Council, the Police and Fire Authorities, all declared no increase; who asked for more, why this same Ottery Town Council – it speaks volumes.

I would suggest the members have a ‘whip round’ at the next meeting of Ottery Town Council and that the Lord Mayor puts his hand in his own pocket to make up any shortfall. If it is a privilege to serve his constituents, then it must be worth it – everything has a price.

All that I ask is that they refrain from spending my money on unnecessary frivolities, wearing a chain doesn’t make anyone better at their job – “by their deeds they shall be known”.

Ralph E Gray

Perrimead, Hawkins Lane, West Hill, Ottery St Mary

Ed: Glyn Dobson is Ottery’s Mayor, not Lord Mayor, and Chairman of the Council.