ONCE again the way Bradford Council's asset management team looks set to deal with the district's public buildings has come under fire from parish and town councillors, including those from Ilkley and Addingham.

In many ways the local authority has its hands tied and is in the same unenviable position as councils across the country.

In a White Paper currently before Parliament, the office of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, is setting out new regulations for local government finance.

The Government is determined that local authority finance in future will be more heavily reliant on private partnerships and the White Paper, when it becomes law, will ensure this policy is adopted.

So in that sense, the asset management team in Bradford is merely carrying out the Government's wishes in inviting private companies to take over public buildings.

But what the critics of the policy cannot see is what long-term benefits there will be of such a move.

A short-term injection of much needed cash will all have to be paid back with substantial interest whichever Byzantine way the deal is constructed.

So if the council has not got the money to repair buildings now, what chance will it have in the future when it also has to pay back the mortgages on its own buildings to buy them back and pay for the wear and tear which occurs between now and then.

Of course in 20 years time, hardly any of the people who initiated the deal will still be around, leaving us with no one to point the finger at when the local authority pleads poverty and fails to come up with the cash.