A pantomime of incompetence

Sir, – It’s getting to the point where the people of Angus dread opening The Courier to be informed of the latest fiasco visited upon us by a most dysfunctional, incompetent administration.

The Angus Council administration learns nothing from its past mistakes and blunders on, lurching from one crisis to another without admitting any responsibility and refusing to recognise where the fault lies.

They choose to avoid the fact that one bad decision – like the recycling fiasco – has ramifications on other council responsibilities.

It’s absolutely appalling that the £1 million prescription costs bill due to the NHS by Angus Council cannot be paid, and reserve funds are depleted.

Council officers have a completely skewed sense of priorities.

They spent £50,000 attempting to convince us the decision to close the recycling centres was the right one when, with the exception of councillors themselves, the dogs on the street knew it was a disaster.

We have never been told the cost of that but if the prescription costs bill cannot be paid as a result, we can assume it was astronomical.

The parking charges coming to High Streets across Angus are another disaster. They will be the coup de gras to small shopkeepers.

Did no one look at the possibility of a 30-minute free parking period? If not, why not?

We were promised a root and branch investigation into the Queens Close homeless housing units in Montrose, unused since a 2007 fire and a half-amillion-pound repair bill, and then sold on at a huge loss.

Montrose councillor Bill Duff said an investigation would ensure this incompetence could never happen again – so far not a further word.

The person responsible for the homeless housing fiasco is no longer in that position; he has been promoted. The person responsible for the recycling disaster is no longer in that position, either; he has also been promoted.

Is there a pattern here?

This pantomime is going to run and run with the same cast.

Robert Alexander. 39 Barry Road, Carnoustie.

Any custodian of our countryside should tread lightly but this has to be balanced with the economic reality of feeding a growing population. You may not require a doctor, lawyer, or accountant very often, but you will need a farmer three times a day, every day