IT takes a brief interruption of services to remind us sometimes how dependant we on so many things that we might otherwise take for granted. At Baker Towers, we had no water for only a few hours last week because of a burst main and that temporary deprivation served as a powerful reminder of the level of our dependency on essential services.

Another area that we take for granted is waste disposal. Waste collection disputes in the past have had immediate and unpleasant consequences for the areas in which those weekly collections have been interrupted. It is therefore with no eagerness that we are anticipating imminent changes to our refuse collection schedules. The new multi-coloured bin system and altered collection rotas and routes have already started in the Amersham area and friends in that area are already concerned that what was working well and smoothly under the previous contract is now both confusing and less user friendly or reliable.

Of course, there will be teething problems when a new contractor undertakes any major enterprise from another company. But in my area we have already seen the narrower 18 ton lorries that were sensibly used by the previous contractor to negotiate the winding roads of rural areas replaced by wider 26 ton vehicles that struggle to negotiate the lanes around where I live. Those of us who live where the local authorities won’t repair our access roads will be facing the substantial added cost now of remedying the damage caused by these significantly heavier vehicles to our roads. As if the roads weren’t bad enough already!

It is tempting to suggest that if a thing is working, why tamper with it; but the need to cut costs for local services leads councils to make decisions that inevitably have an adverse knock-on effect for us, the council tax payers. Recycling is good if it really does what it says on the bin and we are not just being bamboozled by the coloured bin bonanza. But I hope that changing routes and vehicles, which have delivered an excellent service for years, so soon after being awarded the contract may not be that great an idea for the rural householder in particular. I hope the fact that the contractor Serco dropped out of the FTSE 100 this week in the wake of contract problems with its prisoner delivery operation isn’t a bad omen.