I wonder exactly what Wiltshire Council means by a ‘public’ consultation....I refer to the current consultation on garden waste collection services. I live in a village and the only way I have been ‘consulted’ is by way of the internet or the Wiltshire Times. I have both these but many others do not.

Apparently copies of the summer edition of Your Wiltshire (Consultation questionnaire page 7) should have been delivered to every household so everyone has the chance to respond.

I asked the council how people were supposed to respond when they have not been consulted and was told that I could go to the library or go on the internet.

That is my point – again we, residents of villages feel disenfranchised, although we are the very ones who are affected most by any change in the current waste arrangements.

Not everyone has a car (to go to the library to fill in a questionnaire or to take our green waste to a recycling centre), not everyone has access to the internet and sadly not everyone buys the Wiltshire Times.

A public consultation should be just that, consulting the people who are affected by a change in policy.

Why cannot the council put a leaflet through every door? It does not have to be a glossy 20-page magazine.... I have friends in other villages, Shaw for one, and they too have not been consulted.

The consultation period has been extended to October 1 and Parish Councils have been given posters to display to this effect. Is it now the responsibility of local councils to inform all residents?

I like to think that the extension is in response to my phone call to Wiltshire Council when I pointed out that we had not been consulted ....but we have still not all been consulted. Are we now going to receive the summer edition of Your Wiltshire published in July?

There is another public consultation – on the use of bus passes – is the Council going to consult those who will be affected most – the people who use bus passes, who do not live in towns and who rely on the limited local buses?

I am not naive. I realise that councils up and down the land have hidden agendas and decisions already made but Wiltshire Council, at least fulfill your promise on your website: “These changes will not always be easy, so we want to involve local people in any decisions we make.” and your strapline Where everybody matters.

Ginny Sherman, Keevil.