Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Why bother voting when a quango can do the politicians' job.

You may have gathered by now that I strongly dislike non-elected quangos. They stick their noses into our business and yet aren't accountable to us via the ballot box.

Although it won't have a direct impact on Wiltshire, the Audit Commission (AC) seem to be throwing their weight around regarding bin collections.

Apparently, the AC will be prepared to 'mark down' authorities in inspections if they fail to adopt fortnightly bin collections. Whilst I have no problem with alternating weekly collections (we've had them in west Wiltshire for some years) I do have a problem with the fact that the AC is a publicly funded quango with no mandate from the general public.

This is yet another example of how central government is unable to 'let go' and allow locally elected councillors make local decisions.