Comment: Ill-conceived idea hurts Bristol's needy

Local authorities frequently bang the drum about their social inclusion policies, making themselves accessible to the public they are paid to serve.

Yet here in Bristol the administration seems determined to distance itself from those who live within its boundaries.

In fact, judging by the reasoning behind their latest cost-cutting ploy, the further away from Joe Public the better is obviously the aim.

How else can they explain the curious plan to shut six out of the seven help centres across Bristol? These centres, or Customer Service Points, help those who need it with everything from paying their civic bills to advice on other aspects of council services.

This is done in the tried and tested way of face-to-face contact. But the council wants to scrap that and replace most of these centres with a telephone or online service.

Why? It's a whole lot cheaper.

Try telling that to the people who don't like making complicated calls or don't have access to the internet.

It's an ill-conceived plan which does the city council a great disservice and another step towards making Bristol a totally faceless local authority.