Sir, – The fact that a new year always follows an old year appears to catch Darlington Borough Council by surprise. For many years the production of the recycling calendar, that is the dates for collection, has ensured that it becomes available well after the start of the New Year. There have been a myriad of excuses, none of which stand close inspection, and could be best summed up as incompetence.

However, this year’s excuse surpasses all previous. Apparently, the reason for no calendar is because of The Royal Wedding! When questioned as to the non-appearance of the calendar, the person in charge of recycling said there have had to be extensive negotiations as to working rosters and days off in lieu. Furthermore, he said that a separate calendar would not be produced because of financial cuts; an understandable comment.

But presumably the council still has recycling targets to meet and therefore the easier it is made to recycle the more likely these targets are to be met. When I pointed out that last year a calendar was printed on the back of the Town Crier, which one could cut out, he said there was a six-week lead-in time for information to be placed in the Town Crier and, because an entry involved money from his budget, he was certainly not producing any information until after Easter.

He thought that the requisite information was on the council web site. Not exactly true; one can find out the date of the next collection but no further dates. Not everyone has access to a computer or indeed knows how to use one. It costs the council something in the order of £180,000 to produce the Town Crier for the year. Bearing in mind that the utility and veracity of a large percentage of the content of the Town Crier is questionable, it might be an idea to produce the magazine six-monthly or quarterly on specific dates.

This would allow all departments of the council to input their important notices in good time and to the benefit the reader. The magazine could then be used as a reference document for retention until the next edition. Adopting this idea would ensure those without access to the council website would still have the information they need.

The savings could be allocated to library service, thereby reducing the planned cuts.

RODNEY R BURGES Merrybent Darlington.