THE abolition within a year or two of all the district councils in Hertfordshire is very possible. Watford Borough Council and my own, Three Rivers District Council, would vanish.

Can our local councils survive, and should they? There is a big push on to persuade Boris to abolish all district councils and pour their functions into the county councils, as has happened in Buckinghamshire. Hertfordshire County Council has joined in that push, with all the district council leaders opposing it.

A course of constructive action must be decided quickly, and as we have had nothing from the Lib Dems, Conservatives are now looking at it.

Ultimately, those of us who pay council tax and who are affected by council actions have to think about this too: are we content for Hertford to handle everything or do we want decisions made locally? Would there be a noticeable saving from removing one tier of bureaucracy or would we lose more than that is worth?

Local government should local – that is the point – and should be nimble: when I started the Croxley Green parking review I did not know how long and involved it would be, still not concluded after several years, but that shows a council which is on the doorstep, taking account of every representation and reacting accordingly, which it as it should be. A giant, broad-brush bureaucracy might not take such care. On the other hand, the district councils spend money like water, functions are duplicated and millions must be saved to justify their continued existence financially.

We are a long way from the days when a small town council would happily erect a grandiloquent, neo-baroque town hall and all would cheer for their civic pride: these days every penny on the council tax bill is resented. It is unsurprising that financial efficiency, or alleged efficiency, has become a driver for change.

District councils, if they are to survive at all, must undertake a revolution in how they do things, and swallow a lot of pride in doing so. That is the task ahead.

In the end it will be for voters to decide how much they value the locality over efficiency, and for politicians to achieve that efficiency in the first place.

Rupert Barnes

Rugby Way, Croxley Green