Not convinced

SIR, — Daniel Goodwin, the chief executive of St Albans District Council, makes a stout defence (Herts Advertiser, February 19) of the authority s equalities activities and the need for an equalities officer, but despite his statement I remain totally unc

SIR, - Daniel Goodwin, the chief executive of St Albans District Council, makes a stout defence (Herts Advertiser, February 19) of the authority's equalities activities and the need for an equalities officer, but despite his statement I remain totally unconvinced that this is money well spent.

While it is not part of my case to question the competence or integrity of the present incumbent or that of any of his predecessors as Mr Goodwin suggests, I do ask what, if anything, of a concrete nature has been achieved by the creation of this post other than meet some questionable legal obligation.

With an ever-growing raft of legislation on the statute book that outlaws discrimination of all kinds, I have serious doubts as to why the hard-pressed council tax payers of St Albans need to fund such a post. I would therefore be most interested to learn from Mr Goodwin what tangible, clearly measurable examples he can provide of how the creation of this job has made any improvement to anyone's life in the district. For me, this is a classic case of a public-sector "non-job".

From my point of view, I would far prefer the officer's skills and energies to be used to help his colleagues devise a system under which we do not have to wait a month to have our rubbish collected every time we have a few inches of snow and then to ensure that I do not have to pick my way through piles of litter on my daily journey to and from the railway station. That is what local government is about first and foremost - not the meeting of some nebulous PC goals.

JACK PHILLIPS,

Avenue Road, St Albans.