THE scrapping of the Solent Super Authority deal represents another absolutely disgraceful waste of taxpayers' money.

I knew it... I have been saying it all along.... all the hours of officers' time, the hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money spent by the Tories on consultants and consultations, trying to make the case for restructuring local government has all been wasted.

I stood up several times in the council chamber and predicted this would be the case. I have referred to it many times on social media. There is no appetite for changing the structures of local government... it's just that they need to work better together and become more efficient.

The Conservatives are absolutely hopeless. This is yet another huge waste of money and resources which could have been much better employed on frontline services.

I can only imagine what council staff think about this shambles. It must be really demoralising, being instructed by their political masters to pursue projects that go nowhere.

If ever we needed a change of political leadership, it is now.

Councillor David Harrison

New Forest Liberal Democrats