I HAVE a contract with Harlow Council, but will the council be keeping its side of it?

Smarting in the wake of last year's council election defeats, with old guard members of the Labour Party no longer councillors, it decided that it would follow the successful Conservative idea and make a contract with the good people of Harlow.

The idea was as good as most Labour promises, but it fell into trouble right from the beginning. Although it said it would report back on the first stage by September, there was immediate slippage and where there were any proposals they were no more than any business would expect from the least experienced of its staff and related to none of the serious problems of the town.

It has been throwing committees and services overboard, like sailors in a sinking ship, but recent reports throw doubts on whether it will be in a position to keep its leaky ship afloat, whether it will even be solvent.

If you are a pensioner, as I am, don't be surprised if your £8 a week pension increase that the Chancellor has promised you will be eaten up by a rise in your council tax not that he is actually giving pensioners anything because they have already contributed to their pensions during their working life.

Our Labour-controlled council held its tax rise last year to mitigate its expected losses, regardless of how much it would cost.

The council employed a new chief executive and three new directors costing more than an extra £250,000 in total. Then there is the massive support it gives to run almost empty buses to the southern and eastern parts of the town for political reasons. It generally spends money like a drunken sailor on stupid projects. But do not worry, you don't mind paying out do you?

D J CROAGER,

Felmongers,

Harlow