The article on the Government's cuts to disaster funding (The Argus, March 28) unfortunately missed two salient points.

The cuts in government funding lead directly to a reduction in local authorities being prepared to respond effectively to disaster in all its forms, yet the Government still does not see fit to create a duty (rather than a discretionary power) on local authorities to respond to modern problems such as the fuel blockade, foot-and-mouth disease, terrorism and so on.

Currently, local authorities do so as a common-law "duty of care" to their residents and transient populations (shoppers, holidaymakers, conference-goers) but there is no duty to respond to anything other than an attack from a hostile nation (the Civil Defence Act 1948).

The Government promised a review after the floods in 2000 yet cannot see any urgency to enact anything other than a fox-hunting ban, even after the attacks of September 11.

Secondly, if better funding is going to unitary authorities such as Brighton and Hove City Council, can they assure the public that proper preparation throughout all departments of the council is taking place?

The "head in sand" and "cannot happen here" attitudes of the past five years will not be enough to produce an effective response to incidents on the scale of that in the US.

-David Rowley, Hythe Road, Worthing