Cllr Julian Brazil, of East Prawle, writes:

I share the concerns of local residents with the state of the South Hams.

Overflowing bins and the chaos at recycling banks are unacceptable and a terrible advertisement for visitors.

These issues are the responsibility of South Hams Council.

At the same time, the council has been unable to deal with the backlog of planning applications and enforcement.

Many people have struggled to get hold of more recycling bags or parking permits.

The website is often inaccessible and callers have been left hanging on the phone for ages.

Eventually the council decided to raid the reserves to divert a complete disaster – if it wasn’t already.

Local taxpayers may be interested to know that while all this has been going on the council, in partnership with West Devon, has been spending £100,000s on consultants and lawyers on a project that is doomed to failure.

The idea is to set up a company so we can sell our services to other local authorities. Fine in theory but who in their right mind would touch our services with a barge pole? We have a demoralised workforce, a transformation programme propped up by reserves, IT systems and processes that are not fit for purpose – the list goes on and on.

It disappoints me that fellow councillors, maybe out of party loyalty, are supporting this folly. The nonsense has got to stop before we fail as a council and are consumed by the unitary councils of Plymouth or Torbay, which would be a disaster for the South Hams.