Julian Head, of Audley Rise, Newton Abbot, writes:

Further to the recent story regarding the council being plunged into debt over a new development scheme – we don't actually know what the new development is, so can't really form a judgement as to whether or not it is worth going into a structured debt to finance.

The former leader of the council, Lib Dem Cllr Alan Connett, seems to be showing all of the traits of the Lib Dem NIMBYs in Torquay, who opposed virtually everything the previous mayor tried to do to get his run down area moving.

The latest moan comes against a virtually weekly backdrop of a Lib Dem 'whinge fest'. The Lib Dems joined the Tories in a coalition; they possibly lost Teignbridge as a result. get over it.

This is the reason I don't really approve of party politics at local council level. there always seems to be a lot of shouting while on the ground it is business as usual.

However, in saving money for the council, Cllr Jeremy Christophers' team should follow Cllr Connett's lead. Cllr Connett was the leader of the council who oversaw Teignbridge having a part time chief executive shared with another authority, with more power then being passed to two deputies.

Maybe Cllr Christophers could merge more of the council's management and back office facilities with another authority, thus saving money for redevelopment projects and maintaining frontline services.

Inevitably this would mean a loss of managerial jobs but to me Teignbridge should really mean bin collectors, recycling staff, sports centre staff, parish sweepers and, dare I say it, traffic wardens.

I would logically prefer Torbay in a local authority merger, but as Torbay is a unitary authority this would not be a perfect match.

I and many others like me voted for a root and branch review of the ridiculous local authority management costs and hoped the Conservatives would deliver. How can chief executives of small councils earn more than the Prime Minister and members of the cabinet? The top management team at Teignbridge costs by my reckoning £235,000 a year. I am not privy to the exact figure but would be surprised it was less than this. How is this sustainable for such a small district council?

I was also very interested in the Conservative Party pledge to review Sunday parking charges. By not charging, you would negate the need for traffic wardens to operate on a Sunday and would, presumably, be saving an overtime bill. Street wardens should be used as a traffic management tool, not a revenue generator.

We have also witnessed how the current austerity measures have affected the retail industry. our shopkeepers need every assistance in getting people into the towns to spend money and any help the council can give would, I am sure, be appreciated.

Without regeneration, I fear that Teignbridge is headed the same way as Torbay.

Cllr Christophers probably had a lot in his in-box when he was elected leader of Teignbridge Council two months ago; let's see what he delivers before jumping on some politically driven bandwagon.MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION