Council failing on its basic services

Sir, – I live in the village of Abernethy, which is part of the district covered by Perth and Kinross Council.

The attitude of the council to basic services such as our street sweeping, drain cleaning etc is appalling.

Our local councillor, David Illingworth, backs them by coming up with ever more interesting excuses for their lack of attention to our village: “It’s too far from Perth” was one of them. Recently, some of the village householders were badly affected by flooding, as was other parts of Perthshire.

During this difficult time, the council was asked by the emergency services for sandbags, they were told this was a community issue – “nothing to do with them”.

For years the village has drummed on about the lack of quality workmanship by council departments. Councils are being encouraged to be more efficient and to save money. I think the phrase should be “to not waste so much money”.

Communities are being encouraged to get more involved with their area, grounds maintenance, street litter picking etc.

The more we do, the less the council has to do – what are we paying council tax for? The money is being spent on shoddy work and Z-list celebs switching on Christmas lights.

Local councils are not in touch with the taxpayer, local councillors are not in touch with the people. I have never seen our three councillors walking around Abernethy. Jimmy Swan.

Back Dykes, Abernethy.