I note from this week’s Wiltshire Times that the council has managed to retrieve most of the money which was deposited with Iceland Bank. This raises a number of questions: 1. Why was money deposited with a foreign bank? A British bank would have provided some protection in the event of a bank failure. What was the situation if it became necessary to withdraw any of the deposit ?

2. Who authorised the deposit and has he/she now been dismissed?

3. Why does the council hold such large reserves that a surplus has to be deposited elsewhere and not even in a British institution?

4. Bearing in mind that most of the council’s income is completely guaranteed as it is paid by the ratepayers I should have thought that something like, say, six months’ estimated expenditure, would have been more than adequate to cater for unexpected outgoings.

It is a sad state of affairs when the council is able to play with our finances without apparently any oversight. How many of our councillors were aware of this gambling with ratepayers’ money ?

Geoffrey Richards, Ashton Road, Hilperton