Cllr Humby wrote last week that Hampshire County Council is consulting on yet more cuts to public services due to a significant £132m budget shortfall on his watch. These cuts have a deep impact on our society yet it seems that the Conservative leadership is blinkered to the impact of their decisions.  We have schools closing, social services in disarray, and roads flooding and disintegrating.

The latest proposal is to close Household Waste Recycling Centres. It is surprising to hear from Cllr Humby that there has been “no evidence of increased fly tipping” following closures of recycling centres elsewhere in the country.  Is this a case of not looking hard enough for evidence? It was not that long ago that we were assured by Conservative leaders that there was no evidence of parties in Downing Street during lockdown.

We all feel the impact in our pockets of sharp annual increases in council tax, so how can it be that HCC is close to bankruptcy? If Cllr Humby were to look a bit harder he will see that central government funding for councils was cut by 40 per cent between 2010 and 2020 under the Conservative government. This cannot have helped.

Kevin Lindley,

Abbotswood Common Road,

Romsey