MARTYN Underhill wonders why the idea of a one council for the whole of Dorset is not one of the options in consultation for the much overdue review of local government in our area.

If he had been interested and involved in our area for a bit longer he would know that perhaps, unusually, lessons have been learned from the past.

From 1974 until 1997, councillors and council officers tried to administer a government-imposed reorganisation and I think it is safe to say that both rural and urban areas felt that the system didn't work well for them. It was a pretty painful experience and expensive in use of resources too.

The idea of two councils, one covering the rural part of the county and one for the urban part, has got to be the right solution. There is, of course, the responsibility to residents to deliver good and affordable services but also the need to plan efficiently and effectively for the future.

Both are very special places but with very different issues - the rural county with the need to prioritise its important economic and environmental needs and the ever expanding conurbation, as a major city area in the UK, urgently needing to send its own clear messages. Consulting and communicating well, of course, but not watering down the action needed to build for the future by the inevitable compromise, delay and arguments around the respective very different and competing priorities.

Two councils will be to the benefit of all and I hope Mr Underhill will not seek to turn the clock back just as we are anticipating long awaited improvement progress in the way things are done.

ALDERMAN DOUGLAS EYRE, Kirby Way, Bournemouth