I UNDERSTAND that we are living in austere times and cut backs have to be made.

I don’t understand, though, how the roads can be left full of potholes and pavements can be neglected when elsewhere I see taxpayers’ money being wasted.

This week, a roundabout near Sherburn, County Durham, has had the attention of eight workers, with an almost equal number of vehicles, to lift the grass, to plant shrubs and trees, and to lay gravel.

Then Quarrington Hill has acquired a series of bollards on the pavement where the road is too narrow for two cars to pass.

Still nothing has been done to indicate who has priority. Oh, and the pavement upon which the bollards have been placed is in the most atrocious state.

At what cost is this work done, and who on earth determines the priorities?

Carole Parkes, Quarrington Hill, Durham.