I AM writing in response to two articles about Caerphilly County Borough Council’s financial issues. The first report was about the difficulties the council find themselves in as their services face £39m million in cuts. The article went on to describe how the borough is to raise council tax by 3.9 per cent while councillors have only agreed to reduce their expenses by five5 per cent!

This is a meagre saving, with one individual’s expenses amounting to £47,500, two others’ expenses amounting to £31,250 and £31,150 each, and all the other cabinet members getting an average of £28,000-£29,000 each, this savings is indeed meagre. The second report, on page two of the paper, was about councillor Nigel Dix facing possible sanctions for his comments criticising the council’s proposal to .

Mr Dix faces his group leaders on November 19th for talking about council proposals to fund a multiplex cinema in Bargoed, at a cost of £4m. What hypocrisy, that a council that needs £39m now plans to go out and borrow £4m to build a cinema!

This appears to be another case of whatever Bargoed wants, Bargoed gets, a policy most CBCC councillors follow religiously, except for Mr Dix and a few of his supporters. Could I ask the rest of the county councillors to support Mr Dix and co. in preventing the council obtaining a £4m loan in these times of austerity for the rest of us?

Brian J Watkins, Woodside Drive, Newbridge