In last week’s Gazette, Cllr Mike Saltern, referring to the South Hams council tax increase that would result from a merger with West Devon, spoke of “not the huge amount referred to”.

But, however, you add it up, with an increase in 2018/19 of £5 followed by annual increases of £11 from 2019/20 over 10 years, the average household bill for South Hams council tax would see a 71 per cent increase from an annual £155 now, to an annual £265.

In total over that same period, an average household would pay an additional £610. If our district councillors consider this not a huge amount, I suggest they need lessons in household economics.

This proposal is only on the table because West Devon Borough Council needs bailing out. Compared to SHDC, it has significantly higher deficits and debt as well as much lower reserves. It has also not reduced costs as well as SHDC.

Now it is going ahead with borrowing £25m to enter the commercial property market, in which it has zero experience.

These debts and deficits would be taken over by a merged council, with South Hams households paying for the majority of liabilities.

Our district council has no need to merge; without a merger it could have much smaller increases to solve its much smaller deficits.

If needed, it could hold a referendum for any small increases above £5 per annum. It is noteworthy that it has declined to hold a referendum on the merger proposal – presumably because it is scared of the likely result.

So, of course, we come to Project Fear, where SHDC is threatening dire consequences if we do not bail out West Devon.

It is a hollow threat. councils have gone bust before and central Government has stepped in to sort them out.

The last thing HMG would do is throw away the gains that have been made by joint working between South Hams and West Devon.

Another worrying aspect of this proposal is that it follows on SHDC’s failures with its local authority controlled company proposal, with its Invest to Earn proposal – whereby up to £80m would have been borrowed to invest in property – wisely rejected by South Hams councillors, and with its appalling money-grabbing proposals to develop Kingsbridge Quayside, rejected by an overwhelming majority in the recent consultation.

Together with this unjustified merger proposal, I imagine that up to £500,000 has been spent on these ill-conceived notions. No wonder SHDC has a deficit.

But maybe the real questions to ask are whether the top leadership at SHDC is up to the job and whether Officers working for both West Devon and South Hams have conflicts of interest?

In the consultation that has just started, South Hams households will no doubt let our district council know just what they think of this latest folly.

Jim Romanos

Tacket Wood, Kingsbridge