Budget consultations by Brentwood Council have been branded a farce by Conservative councillors after only 130 residents returned a questionnaire on the borough's spending plans.

The ruling Lib Dem administration has described the response as "very disappointing" and said a full review of the process will be undertaken.

However, Conservative group leader, Cllr Brandon Lewis, has slammed the whole project which saw 30,000 questionnaires distributed to residents through the November edition of the Brentwood Borough News, but only 0.5 per cent returned.

Cllr Lewis said: "The council cannot claim anything solid from this consultation, as it is clearly a farce - there is no way such a small number of replies can be taken as being indicative of the views of Brentwood residents.

"I hope that we will see the Liberal Democrats administration having the courage to admit the consultation results are not worth the paper they were written on and they should not have any influence on the budget setting process."

Council leader, Cllr Vicky Cook, said: "There was a very low response and we are very disappointed about it.

"We undertook this consultation in the same way as last year and remain committed to the process as it provides a means of informing people and getting their views. The problem is that if people do not have a burning issue to raise they are not motivated to respond."

Published Friday January 9, 2004

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