Sir – How utterly farcical and wasteful of my publicly-subscribed money the garden waste licence card has been.

It was not necessary to issue a second card. Many house-holders already display their full names on a plate on their front door; it’s often absolutely necessary in order that they can be differentiated from their close neighbours.

All my neighbours and an unknown coterie of strangers know my name; furthermore anyone else, not of this community, can quite easily discover who lives at a particular address; they do not need to read this footling little plastic card attached to a wheelie bin.

Whose crass idea was it in the first place? Perhaps the same nit-wit who decided to furnish the whole town centre with wholly useless artificial sheep? Or maybe the same bureaucrat who pompously decided that the street name plate indicating “Dales Avenue” should not be sensibly removed to the opposite side of my road where it could be seen by approaching strangers; instead of languishing on the ‘blind’ side of the road where it cannot be efficiently seen by those who do not know the locality.

The pompous Craven District Council executive who told me some time ago it would “not be possible to employ council labour and resources” merely to move the small street sign to a rational, sensible site where it could be seen. This was the classic example of ridiculous, pompous, self-opinionated bureaucracy all redolent of a Gilbertian situation which would, at one time, have called forth righteous gales of laughter.

Why do we put up with a team of such inept senior administrators as would appear to be employed by CDC?

Arthur Butterworth, Embsay