I refer to Couns Gunther and Wrights' letters (Area boards are not just talking shops' and Don't trivialise the tax payers') in last week Bury Times.

It seems to me that Coun Gunther has misinterpreted the report into the further development of area boards and to suggest that there is any intention to disband them is simply wrong.

Bury Council introduced area boards in 1999 as a means of engaging with local people and bringing local issues to the attention of those charged with addressing them. Since that time they have proven very successful but we have to recognise that Bury has moved on in the last seven years and we want to build on the success of area boards to address new challenges rather than just continuing as we always have done.

The development of local partnership boards is actually all about strengthening the role of area boards by making them more focused on delivery rather than debate, with more powers and resources devolved down to area level to ensure that the local boards can directly address local issues rather than just talking about them.

In terms of the points raised by Coun Wright, the whole point of the review of area boards is to ensure that the issues raised by tax payers are actually addressed. Surely Coun Wright can see that the most obvious way to trivialise the tax payers is to listen to what they have to say but then not have the powers in place to address their concerns.

Bury Council is thinking about how we can improve the effectiveness of our area boards, to build on our success in this area to ensure that they can be even more effective.

COUNCILLOR GILL CAMPBELL Executive member for community engagement and user focus