GLOUCESTERSHIRE County Council now has the distinction of a mention in the Rotten Boroughs page of Private Eye magazine, which points out that the council will be going to court in October to fight an order to release the unredacted £500m contract for the Javelin Park incinerator project.

“Why?” asks Private Eye.

Not only are taxpaying residents of Gloucestershire being kept in the dark but our own representatives on the council have been denied access to the contract.

Failing to get access to the contract from the county, Cllr Sarah Lunnon went to the office of the private contractor, Urbaser Balfour Beatty, asking to see the contract only to be turned away.

The council and Urbaser Balfour Beatty cite “commercial confidentiality” for keeping the contract secret and we are supposed to nod our heads, yes we understand, carry on please.

So now we have a £500m expenditure that will have no scrutiny on the part of the elected council or by the public.

Whatever one’s position is on the Javelin Park incinerator, I think we should all be alarmed about the lack of transparency and accountability.

This is no way to run a democracy.

County councillors are up for election next spring.

They should be asked whether they support opening up all contracts to public scrutiny and if not, how they justify a government that operates in secret.

Lynn Haanen

Stroud