SIR — Cllr Colin Hill says that Council Tax has gone up by more than 50 per cent in eight years. This increase is 350 per cent higher than the rate of inflation.

He blames the increase on the Liberal Democrats who run Somerset County Council, but this doesn't mean that the Conservatives running West Somerset District Council are now entitled to a splurge at the district level. His name is not Buggins and it is not his turn next.

Which brings me to the question of costings for the proposed new offices to be built at Minehead.

I have no problem with the proposals to consolidate the council's activities into a single building and to sell off existing buildings to offset the cost, but I have three non-negotiable conditions:

1. If the new building is not in Williton, the proposed 75 new permanent jobs must be in existence before any new building is commenced.

2. Efficiency improvements as a result of moving into a new building must recover the total cost within three years.

3. The quality of services provided by the council will improve.

Looking at the first requirement, Williton has been listed as a depressed area for a number of years but the council has failed to bring any significant new jobs to the area.

Jobs in projects such as the proposed Sure Start scheme will be paid for out of public funds. I trust that WSDC is not proposing to include the Sure Start jobs as part of the proposed 75 new jobs while at the same time taxing me to fund the salaries?

Jobs supported by grants cannot be considered permanent since the probability is that the jobs will be terminated when the grants run out.

On the second requirement, the projected cost of the new building is £1.5 million. If we assume that the land value, which is not included in this figure, will be offset by sales by existing buildings which become redundant, then £1.5 million is the figure which has to be recovered by cost savings.

The projected savings have been quoted between £50k and £100k which implies that it will take at least 17 years to recover the cost. I doubt if there is any company in the world which would accept this as a realistic business proposition.

It is ridiculous, it is pathetic, and if the council go ahead on this basis it will be a disgrace. It will also result in yet another substantial increase in council tax.

Mr Howes has said that there would be savings on heating and maintenance costs and I am sure that he is right. So in the cost evaluations which are currently being produced to determine the viability of the proposal, can we please see listed the current cost of heating and maintenance and the projected cost for the new building which any competent architect could produce without difficulty.

We can then easily calculate the projected savings and we can have confidence in them. Can we please also have the current cost and projected cost of the other areas where significant cost savings are expected.

We need to find savings of approximately £500,000 per annum in order to cost justify the new building. Moving into a new office will not enable the council to negotiate lower prices with its suppliers, so there are no significant savings to be made in this area. It does not manufacture products for sale, so it cannot introduce automation to reduce its costs as manufacturing companies can.

By far the greatest cost for the council is its staff. If the council can operate more efficiently it will plainly need less staff. However, in order to find savings of £500,000 per annum, the council would need to make between 10 and 15 staff redundant out of the 100 current employees.

I am not convinced that moving into a new building will result in this level of increased efficiency, and if it does not, then either the quality of services will be reduced or Council Tax will be increased.

I repeat that I am not against the council's proposal to move all of its staff into a single office. But at the present time approximately ten per cent of my total income goes in Council Tax and on present figures it appears that this project will lead to even great Council Tax increases in the future.

If the council can produce a cost/benefit analysis which identifies the £500,000 per annum cost savings as a result of moving into a single office it will have my support. I shall however expect to see credible evidence to support the claimed savings rather than the hypothetical, wet-finger-in-the-air figures, which we have been given to date.

I trust that Cllr Hill and his colleagues will be as assiduous in searching out and checking these figures as they will be in canvassing for our votes in the forthcoming district council elections.

J Laflin,

Trendle Lane,

Bicknoller.