WHAT is local government good for? Not very much in my reckoning, if this last week is anything to go by.

The district council's grand plans to rebuild High Wycombe town centre are in a state of chaos after the main financial backers pulled out.

The council is left high and dry, while the developers have made some vague indications that they might be able to find someone else.

Meanwhile, the town centre remains a desolate mess. There is no department store and the existing shops face an unknown future.

Tesco, for instance, is supposedly doomed, being ear-marked for demolition in the scheme. But the way things are going, it's likely to outlive us all.

Other nearby towns such as Uxbridge manage to redevelop, so why is High Wycombe so impotent?

Of course, the council probably isn't to blame, but this is yet another indication of how powerless local authorities really are. They fiddle around the edges, make lots of fuss, but rarely do you ever see them do anything substantial that changes our lives for the better. However, they are most efficient when chasing us for council tax. They rarely miss a trick there.

It's a similar story over at County Hall 20 miles away in Aylesbury. Their main concern is education but schools are currently in the biggest recruitment mess they've been in for years. Nevertheless, our councillors under cabinet Government are being paid more than at any time previously. I'm not particularly bothered by high salaries in return for quality work, but I do object to the fact that cabinet government makes our councillors increasingly less transparent.

The aim of local government is to improve democracy and accountability. Clearly, it's not working, with the ridiculous three-tiered system of county, district and parish councils. Few members of the public understand the system; fewer care.

The sooner it's all scrapped in favour of all-powerful unitary authorities, the better we'll all be.