Despite Keiths protestations about people hiding behind cloaks of anonymity, I know that he knows that I've commented on more than one occasion that I think Eastleigh Borough should become a Unitary Authority. In fact, I'd quite like to see the back of Hampshire County Council completely, with single-tier Local Government implemented across the whole of the county.

Take the current local election campaign for instance.

1. We've got the Conservatives blaming the Lib Dems for 6000 houses on Boorley Green and the Lib Dems doing the exact opposite. Consequently, nobody really knows what the truth is. It is so hard for ordinary people to fathom, clouded in the fog of claim and counter-claim. With a Unitary Authority, the responsibility/accountability for this sort of decision would be much clearer as there would only ever be one organisation to blame...!

2. Then there's Greta Park. The Town Council is currently under pressure to facilitate car-parking to support Eastleigh Borough's pet project, the development of the Rose Bowl. Eastleigh will no doubt take all the credit for bringing Test Matches and greater prosperity to the area, whilst Hedge End Town Council gets all the stick for the erosion of sacrasanct recreational facilities in Hedge End. Here too, with a Unitary Authority, there would only be one organisation to receive the credit and take the blame.

3. We've currently got a Borough Councillor (Keith) standing for re-election, despite the fact that he is also on the County Council. We also have a member of Hedge End Town Council (Peter Hughes) standing for the Borough election. There are many other connections if you look closely at the candidates and the existing Councillors. That instinctively feels "unhealthy" as too much power/influence is potentially placed in the hands of too few people. They potentially have far too much control over events (such as temporary car-parking on Greta park), not to mention that we're paying some of them twice to represent us. With a Unitary Authority those problems/issues completely disappear: Keith/Peter could only ever have one seat and one salary...

Last year we had the expenses scandal in Westminster, which has led to reform of sorts in Westminster. I think we need to reform Local Government too, as that is not without fault either...!

Surely in the current economic climate, where cuts in the public sector are essential, one good way of achieving this would be to remove the three tiers of inefficient Local Government fraught with infighting, empire-building and banjo-playing that we currently have to endure and replace it with a single tier of Local Government, with fewer Councillors overall...?

It works OK(ish) in Southampton and Portsmouth, doesn't it...?