IN A 46-year professional career I have worked or done business in ten countries and had dealings with more than 25 bureaucracies ranging from a tiny village council in Western Samoa all the way to various agencies of the United States Federal Government.

Of all these, by far the most dreadful to deal with has been York's planning department. It is inefficient and anti-business and shows no concern whatever about burdening local businesses with grossly excessive paperwork or that its activities damage or destroy small enterprises and jobs for no sound reason.

A city council publication under the heading Value For Money gives the cost of running its planning and economic development departments as £8,267,000 in 2005-06. The city tells me that these departments employ a total of about 56 people. I am sure there are many other factors to take into consideration, but a simple calculation based on these numbers gives a gross annual cost of an astonishing £147,625 per person.

If the United Kingdom was to follow the Audit Commission's proposals, the private sector would do a far better job for less than half the cost, yielding huge savings. The community and economy would benefit greatly from a much superior service.

David Waggott,

Stonegate, York.

Updated: 10:42 Monday, February 13, 2006