Recently I, and a number of others, all constituents of South Hams District Council, attended a recent public meeting to discuss the merger.

I now wish to record my dismay at the lack of resignations within the SHDC as a result of the vote at West Devon council which rendered the merger impossible.

Not only did 19 South Hams Tory councillors defy the wishes of 84.9 per cent of their constituents who answered an online consultation and telephone survey, they also went against the wishes of 37 out of 45 district and parish councils who responded to the consultation.

Even the council’s own audit committee was apparently blocked from properly assessing the financial risk of the proposed merger.

Although a clear answer as to how much taxpayers’ money had been spent was not available, it is sure to be a significant addition to the £106,000 spent last year on consultants and lawyers in an abortive attempt to transfer all South Hams services to an unaccountable private company.

This is residents‘ money that could have been spent on the dwindling frontline services offered by this right-wing, austerity-driven group of Tories.

These same smug ‘servants of the people,’ were prepared to inflict a 40 per cent increase in council tax on their residents, thereby placing a great burden on poorer households in the area.

This is specially pertinent as SHDC has been extremely tight in allowing poorer residents the council tax relief offered by the Government to offset hardship.

Over a long engagement in order to attain the merger ‘dream wedding’, SHDC has boasted about sacking more than 300 staff from its workforce.

Has it not occurred to these councillors that these are the same employees’ salaries that could have been spent in the local economy, helping small businesses, shops and other ventures to thrive in an area that contains large pockets of rural deprivation?

The almost total incompetence and lack of imagination of these councillors is now clear for all to see.

Not only have they ignored their electors in a manner reminiscent of Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council, but these puppets, in their haste to carry out the Tory Govern­ment’s wishes, did not even have the wit or acumen to notice that their West Devon bride was only too eager to do a bunk at the altar.

To all residents with an informed understanding of the rapid demise of our municipal and democratic life in South Hams, I suggest that you immediately contact the Tory councillor who wished to heap this costly, nonsensical and unsustainable merger on you and ask him or her to go and to go quickly, so that elections may be held to replace them with young men and women who understand and are in touch with the real worlds of businesses and residents of the South Hams.

Here are the 19 Tory villains of the piece who voted for the merger, most of whom did not utter a word on their electorate’s behalf:

Conservative councillors: Hilary Bastone, Dartmouth and East Dart; Ian Blackler, Newton and Yealmpton; Daniel Brown, Wembury and Brixton; Basil Cane, Wembury and Brixton; Kathy Cuthbert, Ivybridge East; Richard Foss, Allington and Strete; Rufus Gilbert, Kingsbridge; Jonathan Hawkins, Dartmouth and East Dart; Michael Hicks, Black­awton and Stoke Fleming; Nicky Hopwood, Woolwell; David May, Ivybridge West; Karen Pringle, Ivybridge East; Rosemary Rowe, Dartmouth and East Dart; Michael Saltern, Ivybridge West; Peter Smerdon, South Brent; Robert Steer, South Brent; John Tucker, West Dart; Keith Wingate, Kingsbridge; and Simon Wright, Salcombe and Thurlestone.

Michael Elsmere

Washbourne