I WRITE with reference to your article June 20 entitled “More cuts on the cards – and this time it’s Dorset’s registration service”. The proposals are outlined in Dorset County Council’s online consultation at consultationtracker.dorsetforyou.com/00,consultation,12166,330,00.htm.

Given that we rely on this service at crucial times in our lives – when we have children, marry or enter into a civil partnership, or when a loved one dies – I am hugely concerned that the Weymouth Register Office and five others are earmarked for closure.

Whilst some of the proposals represent a genuine attempt to respond proactively to a changing environment, in a context where vital services such as youth clubs are under threat as our government slashes local government expenditure, I fundamentally oppose the proposed closure of the Weymouth office on the following grounds: Currently, Weymouth is one of only two offices open full time, and is operating at capacity. It serves, in effect, around 17 per cent of residents (in Weymouth, Portland and Chickerell). Surely, therefore, this is NOT one that should be earmarked for closure? And could Dorchester, the only other office open full time – and most of the eleven are only open 1-2 days a week – even cope with the increased usage?

Furthermore, as the least well off part of Dorset (lowest wages), with the lowest level of car ownership (24 per cent of households do not have a car, compared to 15 per cent as a whole), and with unemployment almost double the DCC average, surely residents of Weymouth and Portland are least able to bear the cost burden this closure would impose? The ongoing migration of jobs and services from Weymouth and Portland to Dorchester is also deeply unwelcome in this context.

In addition, the consultation states that, under the proposals, 91 per cent of the population would still be within a 20 minute drive of a registry office. I do not see how that can possibly be true as certainly that includes no one on Portland and barely half of Weymouth, surely, even on a good day!

Finally, if implemented, the proposals would considerably increase travel, and hence congestion, and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, just when we need to be making services more rather than less local.

I also fear that, whilst most of the offices threatened with closure have town and parish councils to lobby for their retention, residents of Weymouth, the single largest conurbation within the Dorset County Council area, has no town council to lobby on its behalf. For all these reasons, I strongly urge Weymouth and Portland residents in particular to make their feelings known via the consultation.

Clare Sutton County Councillor for Rodwell

Green Party