It is heartening to see that some parish councils are working proactively with their communities to help people cope with COVID 19.

For example, I understand that Portland Town Councillors are working with Dorset Councillors, the Portland ICA charity and local churches in a Portland Resilience Committee. Further afield, I hear of parish councils that have set up a system of street wardens to ensure that offers of help for vulnerable and isolated people are targeted effectively.

Dorchester Town Council and individual councillors, in contrast, remain silent save for a Facebook message announcing the closure of the council offices. The DTC website adds little save to say some services will be curtailed. Meanwhile, councillors are largely absent from the main social media sites. Perhaps if they read this, they can tell us what they are doing? If they are doing good work, it would helpful to publicise it. Alternatively, they might want to look and see what others are doing elsewhere.

J Hancock

Dorchester