HUNTINGDONSHIRE District Council launched its new website over the weekend, but at what cost to the council taxpayers of Huntingdonshire? I have endeavoured to obtain the associated costs of setting up this new website, but no one, including Jonathan Gray

HUNTINGDONSHIRE District Council launched its new website over the weekend, but at what cost to the council taxpayers of Huntingdonshire?

I have endeavoured to obtain the associated costs of setting up this new website, but no one, including Jonathan Gray, the executive councillor responsible for IT at HDC, has replied with this important information. Is there something they wish to hide?

I have discovered that almost �5,000 was spent on external advice used in the design of the new site but this is only one element of the costs involved. The previous version of the website seemed to work pretty well to me. Is this change for change's sake?

Could not the extra money spent developing this site have been better used ensuring more roads in the district were gritted, or helping the elderly and others whose needs were great keep warm during this extended cold snap.

It seems to me to be just another example of the Conservative-run council spending our money for the sake of it, as was the case with the tens of millions of pounds spent on the new HDC premises that you and I will be paying for the foreseeable future.

Councillor ANDY MONK

Huntingdonshire District Council

Editor's note: HDC says the remaining cost of making the site more user-friendly and accessible was absorbed within existing council budgets. The site, visited by an average of 2,300 people a day, contains more than 5,000 pages. District councils do not grit roads or provide social services.