COUNCIL TAX

YOUR table showing the council tax increase in the North-East made interesting reading (Echo, Mar 16). It shows just how badly affairs are run in Durham with increases twice the rate of other unitary authorities.

What is even more telling is that Redcar and Cleveland has a nil increase this year - and had a nil increase last year as well. It seems to be able to manage this in spite of Government funding cuts and a big Cleveland Police cost increase. It has even managed a significant increase in social services spending.

I would like Durham to explain to us weary taxpayers why other North-East councils seem to be able to manage their finances so much better. - David Middleton, Chester-le-Street.

THE increase of over 13.65 per cent in Wear Valley is not acceptable to the majority of the people who have to find this enormous amount from their income which, in this area, is usually low.

The councillors do not have to accept the figures given to them by their officers. They should have told each officer that the figures would only be acceptable with ten per cent off. They would still have been able to keep up their meagre services.

Wear Valley District Council has debts of over £43m, due to previous Labour administrations, yet they think the people of this district have money to waste.

My income fell last year by 15 per cent, yet I am expected to find this ridiculous amount to help fund pie-in-the-sky projects.

It is about time councillors could decide how to vote in their meetings. Their duty is to the electorate and not to just follow the party line like a load of sheep. Councillors should speak up.

I am an ex-councillor. - RL Groves, Howden-le-Wear.

WEAR VALLEY has done it again. A 13.65 per cent rise in council tax. It is an absolute disgrace. All I get for that is my bin emptied and a bin bag sometimes.

I have been Labour all my life but I did not think the day would come when I would think I would be better off with the Tories. But come the local elections, everything will be rosy in the garden. - Brian Anderson, Cook.

I DO not normally write to papers - this is only the fifth time I have done so. However, the receipt of my council tax bill has stirred me.

In common with just about every household in Wear Valley, every week I am showered with money-saving deals, cheaper gas, cheaper electricity, phone calls, discounts on all forms of insurance, cheaper water rates, etc. Shops, supermarkets, DIY stores are all striving to bring down prices. The Bank of England figures state that inflation is currently 2.6 per cent.

My wife and I have always worked. Our latest pay increases were in line with inflation in the order of 2.6 per cent.

What happens where there is no competition?

A rise in council tax of approximately 14 per cent. What about next year? The year after? How long do we have to shore up council inefficiency. Just how many motorway cones does a council need? - John Raw, Bishop Auckland.

THE 12.5 per cent rise in council tax rise in Sedgefield, like in many other places, is an outrage and we all should refuse to pay it until we get a detailed explanation from these councils about why we have to pay these disgraceful increases.

I have not read any replies from council leaders defending their increases. Isn't it about time they did? - B Collins, Spennymoor.

I HOPE Sedgefield will take heed of the comments of R Davies, of Ferryhill, in his letter (HAS, March 13) and will not treat his comments about the limitations of the Community Force as a knee-jerk reaction to the increase in council rents and council tax. They are comments reflecting general unease, not only about the service, but also about the spiralling costs which have become a luxury we cannot afford.

Because of Government priorities being health, education and transport, naturally Government grants and subsidies will go to these areas and not the Community Force.

To give some idea of the increased costs of the Community Force, in the budgets for 1997, 1998 and 1999, it cost £523,000, of which £402,000 was recharged to the council tenants' housing revenue account. But in the budget for 2002-03, the total expenditure is £791,370, of which £595,160 is recharged to the housing revenue account. - TH Conley, Ferryhill.

THE EURO

I ENJOYED Sunday's TV discussion about the euro, though I was tempted to watch the Full Monty again on the other side. The two are connected.

There is no way that any of our large industries, whether it be steel, coal, shipbuilding, cars, microchip or farming, should be allowed to decline in the way they have in the past.

What is manufactured may change, but the desperation of unemployment should not again be allowed to be a prominent feature of any community in the UK.

In the debate, people said they wanted to stay part of Europe but did not want to lose their sovereignty. I can see few reasons why we should, but the economic argument for changing pounds into euros is still the most powerful.

World trading organisations have warned Britain about isolation. America is already looking after its own, and every time we trade with Europe it costs us unnecessary extra money. That cannot be good for any of us.

The dole queues of Sheffield may be a thing of the past, but who knows what the next 50-100 years will bring, even the next ten years. Britain will always be a strong force in Europe, but even stronger with a common currency to support jobs and make trading easier. That is what is important to me and my family. - Muriel Green, Wallsend.