SIR, At last Thursday’s full Council meeting at Newtown I counted at least 15 Scottish Borders Council staff members present, quite what half of them were there for escapes me with one staff member standing at a podium for less than two minutes tops, over two hours into the meeting, then disappearing fast!

I reckon that the cost of these 15 staff members, including the Chief Executive, must have run to between £1,500 to £2,000 and I intend putting in a Freedom of Information request to find out the accurate cost of such.

One of the many items discussed during the meeting was the effectiveness of Area Forums and, as was stated, they are a success. Sadly from experience I seriously disagree.

I was a great fan of the previous Area Committees and seldom missed a meeting in the Eildon Area, mostly held in Galshiels. I also attended elsewhere in the Borders in Hawick, Kelso, Duns and Peebles on occasion.

The Committees were closed mainly due to the fact they lost their biggest element, namely Planning. But, after around 18 months, the Forums were set up.

I attended quite a few in the Eildon Area but my impression was that the presentations were lacklustre and that few if any members of the public ever went.

The last one I ever attended had only three members of the public, including myself, there out of a population of just over 37,000 in the Eildon Area. In other words, one person in 12,000 bothered to turn out. I wouldn’t term that as successful.

At that meeting a very senior SBC official gave a presentation that was passable and when it came to answering four questions from Councillors, straight answers were not forthcoming and the buck was passed to another official much further down the Newtown feeding chain to come up with barely satisfactory answers.

I had a couple of questions to ask but decided not to bother as it was obvious that I wouldn’t get straight answers that evening.

The Forums are supposed to be a link to SBC with the public but I know others, like myself, throughout the Borders who regularly attended Area Committees but have become fed up of the Forums set up and one of the reasons is that the public who pay the wages of those at SBC, aren’t really made welcome or are encouraged to become involved.

At the end of the day the Forums are a vanity project for all those involved and wouldn’t be missed.

I’m not alone in thinking that the Forums need to be finished with as they are a waste of money in these economically stretched times for SBC.

The press were nearly always present at Area Committee meetings but have largely ignored the Forums, personally I don’t blame them because who wants to sit there and listen to a pack of wafflers?

I am, etc.

Nik Wirsten Leslie Place Selkirk