Basildon Council is supposed to represent the townships of Basildon, Billericay, Wickford, Pitsea and Laindon.
In the 1980s the then Labour-controlled council decided to ditch the title of Basildon District Council and just be called Basildon - at the same time ditching the council symbol representing all parts of the district for one depicting the mother and child statue what was in Basildon town centre.
Renaming Basildon as the Borough of Basildon will in effect encourage once more the dismissing of the older parts of the district at the expense of Basildon.
A much more radical and inclusive decision would be to rename the council as Basildon District Council.
Having someone called a mayor will be just an ego trip.
Conservative leader Malcolm Buckley and his friends should remember that they rely on the people of Billericay and Wickford to keep them in power in Basildon.
The odd £1,000 here and there may not mean much in terms of the Basildon budget, but it does to most seniors in the district, whose council tax bills will increase once again in April by over double the rate of any pension increase from the Government.
David Harrison
Alicia Avenue
Wickford
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