Council saga

First we have the bullying episode and then we hear that councillors are offering at least £800,000 (my estimate) to remove the council officers who were making life difficult for them.

It is a scandal that so much money is being offered in "early retirement" to senior staff, especially as the chief executive still seems to be negotiating and will only leave "on his terms"

(Echo, Feb 19).

If these officers were so valuable, why aren't they all being replaced?

Now we have the Tory group shooting itself in the foot by sacking its only effective councillor, John Blackie. I am no fan of Councillor Blackie, but from the Tory point of view he was their only asset.

After all, he has the local Liberal Democrats in his pocket and can change his spots quicker than any leopard. Just look at his flip-flop over the new council offices.

Richmondshire district councillors are a disgrace and should all stand down at the May election and give way to people who really care about Richmondshire and not their egos. - Leslie Rowe, Richmondshire Green Party, Brompton-on-Swale, North Yorkshire.

FOR a year or two now, I have watched with mounting alarm your reports of the ill-fated Richmondshire District Council.

One of your latest refers to elected members meeting behind closed doors and agreeing to offer several council officials undisclosed sums to retire early.

In summarising recent events, this latest piece of arrant nonsense becomes all too explicable. Long-standing disagreements on policy and procedures erupt into accusations of bullying of officials by members, various inquiries ensue, a senior official goes off work with a stressrelated illness and threatens legal action against members, a member, in public, swears at and offers violence against another member. Then this.

In their unseemly desire to slink off with council tax payers' money, are council officials demonstrating where their actual commitment lies?

Are elected members seeking to avoid their personal liability in the face of potential legal action by resorting to this blanket largesse?

Cost savings through management reorganisation is so much smoke and mirrors. The current members and officials got the Richmondshire council tax payers into this predicament and I for one am sitting up and taking notice. Is anyone else? - DJ Cunningham, Brompton-on- Swale, North Yorkshire.

COUNCILLOR John Blackie's deselection by Richmond Conservative Party must surely damage the party hugely in Richmondshire.

Campaigning for Save Our Shire has led me to watch Coun Blackie in action in meeting after meeting. As Leader of Richmondshire District Council, he has consistently used his abilities to wrench the authority back from the brink of total disintegration to its present position where strategic thinking is informing key decision-making.

The situations he has had to deal with have been complex and tough and, sadly, he has been accused on several occasions of behaving in a confrontational way.

The fact that he has been exonerated every time shows just how intractable some of the problems and personalities have been. The residents of Richmondshire owe him a considerable debt.

I have no party political axe to grind. Nevertheless, not to endorse such a candidate suggests that many of the Conservative hierarchy in Richmondshire are driven by personal opinion rather than political understanding. They, rather than Coun Blackie, will in the end be the losers. - John McDonald, Chairman, Save Our Shire, Richmond.