JOHN Thomson's "one-and-a-half cheers" to Government plans for regional assemblies (Gazette May 16) was balanced, and in tune with the Bishop of Exeter's views, heard on the Radio Four Today programme.

I disagree that we should keep all three tiers of existing local government. Jane Scott, deputy leader of Wiltshire's Conservatives agrees with me, one should go. She would keep the county and abolish the districts.

I would abolish the county, which does not do a very good job maintaining roads and produces some fairly duff policies on education.

I would also abolish districts who have too many councillors and never quite know whether to deal with local detail or the bigger stage. This is why the public believes there are so many bad decisions by councils.

I favour a partial return to the urban district councils /rural district councils but slightly larger.

The same group of councillors would provide a body from whom the management committees for the many agencies would be drawn.

We do this already to some extent with fire and police services. Democratic and local control could be extended much wider.

There are services which are duplicated or fragmented across two layers of councils. For example, take the current shambles in planning.

Basil Davie and S J Eels (Gazette May 23) are a couple of "dismal Johnies" and are incorrect. Regionalism was developed under the Liberal Leader Jo Grimmond years ago, almost before Tony Blair was born.

The point is to make the unelected organisations, which exist, properly democratic, including the regional Whitehall offices.

I believe a lot of difficulty during the foot and mouth epidemic could have been avoided if regional government offices had been responsible to locally-elected regional councillors.

A county body would have been too small. Just think of flooding, trunk roads, rail, airports, mineral extraction and waste disposal. We need big thinking, efficient solutions and democratic control.

This must be implemented with a shift of tax from the centre and not be used to increase tax unnecessarily.

But the Government only has our money and we are going to have to pay big time to put just our roads and rail back together.

Reducing central Government and revamping local government will not provide all the money, but will manage local services better and reduce waste.

PHIIP ALLNATT

Independent County, North Wilts and Chippenham Town Councillor