I AM thoroughly disappointed that the council has decided to suspend area forum meetings.

These meetings were a place for people to voice their concerns of problems in their local areas and listen to the council justifying their services and spending.

Can someone from the council please explain why the boundary changes affect area forum meetings so badly, yet when it comes to voting they seem to have been implemented without any problem whatsoever?

Were local elections suspended because of boundary changes? NO! So why suspend area forums meetings where local people have a voice on local issues?

Why not, just like in the local elections, change the name of the area forum meetings to represent the varied wards?

It really shouldn't be that difficult for Bolton Council to implement, or is it that we have to advertise for a "Boundary Change and Information Officer" who must be paid a seemingly large amount of ratepayers' and taxpayers' money before anything can get done?

Mike Ford

Bolton Branch UKIP Chairman