Many and varied are the complaints made by the people of Bradford about the services provided by the Council. Often they come to this newspaper in the form of letters to the editor and telephone calls to the Newsdesk.

The residents of this city complain about much-needed council services which they feel are not being adequately provided; about services being provided which in their opinion are not needed; about incompetence and inefficiency; about the difficulty of getting things done, and sometimes of getting them undone; about decisions being taken which affect their lives but about which they were never consulted.

Well, now they ARE to be consulted. The decision by the Council's Executive Committee, at a time of massive change in many areas, to begin a rolling programme of consultations in October to find out what the public really do want will cost £100,000 a year out of tight resources. However, if it leads to services which are more in tune with the wishes of the people whose council tax funds this district, it should be money well spent.

Those resources will be wasted, though, if the public fail to take full advantage of this opportunity to make their views known. Council leader Councillor Margaret Eaton is right when she says that the Council has a duty to ensure that it is providing the services people actually want.

However, the council taxpayers also have a duty, to themselves and to their fellow citizens, to respond to this challenge - by filling in the questionnaires, attending meetings or going along to debates at neighbourhood forums. Those who don't will deny themselves the right to complain in the future.