Unitary authority is lunacy

It is sad for the people of Shrewsbury to know that within a couple of years decision making on local issues such as planning, heritage, parks and street cleansing will transfer to Shirehall.

So Shrewsbury will be run in the wider interest of those from Whitchurch, Ludlow and Bridgnorth.

Like the English in the United Kingdom, the wealthier majority will prop up a larger entity with generous subsidies to support services in uneconomic parts of the county.

This will fundamentally disempower local people and lead to higher taxes for the people of Shrewsbury - to equalise tax levels across the county - and we will fall to the lowest common denominator and lose many front line services in the town.

I also fear a shift in culture from the "can do" attitude of Shrewsbury & Atcham to the inherently bureaucratic, old fashioned, distant, academic, policy-orientated, out of touch style of the county council.

The congestion charge illustrates this. Backed by the county as good in theory, anyone who spends any time with the public would know it's unworkable in this town.

The loss of local accountability against the wishes of the majority is an affront to democracy.

It's a centrally driven agenda about centralisation - to Birmingham for this region, and to Brussells in the longer term.

It's forced on us by the people who brought you cash for honours, the Iraq war, speed cameras, ID cards and more - they now have the audacity to give us this unitary imposition.

It seems like the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

Darren Dean, Shrewsbury