I BELIEVE that everyone will now realise and accept that, due to the ongoing financial crisis, Durham County Council will need to reduce spending.

However, the authority has a wide range of jobs and departments which are nice to have if you can afford them, but which are not necessary in order to provide essential services such as care, education, road maintenance, etc.

We all will, therefore, expect the council – ie, the 126 elected members – to look long and hard at these non-essential areas when considering spending reductions in order to avoid cutbacks in services on which the young, old, frail, disabled, sick and vulnerable rely and depend.

We will also expect them to prune and streamline the management structure, systems and procedures in order to produce a lean, more efficient administration before even considering any cuts to essential services.

So over to you, council members – we have paid our dues in taxes so now we expect you to ensure that our money is spent carefully and properly on our services to our benefit.

John Routledge, Witton Gilbert, Durham.

DESPITE claims that the new Durham County Council would save costs, I find that its annual charge for Carelink has increased by 10.64 per cent. Had not the rate for VAT been reduced to 15 per cent, then the Carelink charge would have increased by 13.04 per cent.

It seems local authorities are seizing the chance to increase their income.

JW Davison, Ferryhill, Co Durham.