Highly respected retired senior manager Philip Webster sums up many residents' feelings about an arrogant Council with a history of failure after failure.

SIR,- I am incandescent at the remarks of the council's chief executive on  the chosen contractor for Westminster Lodge going into administration 
which obliged the council to hold back from signing the contract with  McNamara & Co. In admitting that this required  two further financial 
checks Mr Goodwin  says " Neither of these checks raised any financial  concerns that OFFICERS FELT SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO CABINET'S ATTENTION 
BEFORE OR AT THE CABINET MEETING OF NOVEMBER 2". On what authority did Mr  Goodwin take it upon himself to make such a decision?  He should remember 
that he is paid to do the will of the elected council  and should have  realised the magnitude of the responsibilty he was taking unto himself.
He may well have thought that many members of the public  have little faith in the leadership of our present council and he cannot have failed 
to be aware that the entire project goes against the wishes of the vast  majority of council tax payers, but even so to assume that he alone should 
make such a decision is arrogance in the extreme.
And to compound matters we have a statement from our supine council that  they intend to press ahead with such a flawed project come what may 
despite being presented with a golden opportunity to get off the hook and  go back to the drawing board. In making such a decision the council 
themselves are showing massive arrogance in assuming that their second  choice contractor (with an estimate of how many more millions?) will be 
willing to re-tender at even their original quotation.
The council really are in at the deep end and should be glad of the  opportunity of salvaging something from the wreckage but they will need 
much firmer leadership to do so. Their entire history is of failure after  failure and an only  too willing  habit of delegating  to officers the 
authority that  they themselves are elected to administer.

 PHILIP WEBSTER  Townsend Drive  St Albans