My husband has just received a Citizen's Panel questionnaire from Oxfordshire County Council.

This consisted of 16 pages of questions covering all aspects of everyday life. What a complete waste of money.

I don't know if the powers-that-be realise, but the reason local councillors are elected is to let the council know of any grievances or other issues from local people.

The letter explaining this questionnaire, which is being sent to 3,000 people, is signed Carole Dixon, Consultation Officer.

Can I ask how much was spent on producing this unnecessary questionnaire?

If Carole Dixon read the Oxford Mail letters page, she would soon realise what people thought of Oxfordshire County Council.

Not a lot, I can assure her, especially in view of the Cornmarket fiasco, the appalling closure of Oseney Court and many letters complaining of potholes in the roads.

This questionnaire smacks of a job for the boys and also shows clearly how our council tax is being wasted.

I also notice that the envelope to return the questionnaire is to be sent to Advanced Data Tabulation Services, in Malton, Yorkshire.

Could we please be told why this information is not being processed by staff at Oxfordshire County Council?

This is yet another example of money being wasted, all the more galling when one remembers the story of the woman with multiple sclerosis, whose hours of care were cut from two to one per day.

My questions are pertinent when one reads almost every day that the council is short of money and that a nine per cent increase in council tax is inevitable.

BERYL LANE

Westminster Way

Botley

Oxford