WE said all along that the Guardian’s spat with Carmarthenshire county council was never merely about a local weekly newspaper’s revenue being lost as a result of their unofficial advertising boycott.

Surely, the real issue is the fact that our 14,500 readers – by any yardstick, a hefty chunk of our county’s population – have been effectively disenfranchised by the local authority’s outrageous actions.

Even in these days of instant communication, a recent survey in Ceredigion revealed that 70 per cent of the population still turned to their local newspaper for information. We suspect such a survey in Carmarthenshire would produce a similar figure.

The results of the council’s boycott are now becoming apparent for all to see. Over the past fortnight we have been hearing how readers were left in the dark over the Christmas and New Year refuse collections.

Now Cwmaman town councillor Emyr Jenkins has confirmed local ratepayers are indeed being “disadvantaged”

by this increasingly-ludicrous situation.

Other readers point out that the notice of consultation over the proposed new superschool at Ffairfach – the deadline passed this week – was also not advertised in our paper.

In other words, howmany readers – already faced with a frankly unacceptably small window in which to register their opposition – were never even made aware of the final consultation on what is clearly a massive issue locally?