If only we all had sausage and mash with our gravy!

SIR – I have never seen those two old maxims 'gravy train' and 'snouts in the bucket' illustrated in quite the way that it is in your leader of April 17, 'Big pay rises for borough chiefs'.

We were told that the justification for paying councillors was that it would attract new people. Whoever had that bold idea should look again, as we see the same old faces that have been plodding around the
committees for years. The difference now of course is that they are
'specialists' with their portfolios – with salaries that some of them are unlikely to match in open competition.

We were told these were 'new' authorities. Yet it would seem that the 'new' councillors will take the same old baggage with them into the new authority that they have been dragging around for years.

Gordon Brown has said he wanted to encourage more young people into politics. On the present performance of polititicians at both local and national level, they are unlikely to be faced with a rush of aspiring
leaders.

What Mr Brown could have done of course, to make it reality instead of just talk, is to rule that no-one who has served more than say eight years on any council is eligible to stand for the new authorities.

As for paying the Mayor, that post could be performed by a sixth-former (with time off for photo shoots). Our current Mayor has demonstrated that the sword is as ineffective as the pen in the wrong hands.

We pay the lowest pensions in Europe, that there are many elderly who dare not put their heating on because they cannot afford it, that for many mortgage holders the immediate future looks very grim, and with the pound on the slide investments for those who have saved for their future look equally grim. I could go on.

I wrote to Mr Brown asking the anticipated cost of local government reform. On August 13, 2007, he said he had referred my letter to the
Department for Communities and Local Government (I wonder how much they paid for some PR firm to come up with that title) so "that they may write to me direct".

To date I have heard nothing, albeit as Chancellor he must have had some input to the reorganisation. The simple answer must be that he doesn't know.

I can only see this as another example of paying more for less – in spite of the 'threatened' savings we are told will be made. I look forward to my council tax reducing.

I also look forward to the extra £100 – I think that is what is
proposed for heating allowances for OAPs some time.

I am in the boat Jack, as I have an occupational pension – but God help those who haven't.

In the meantime Shaun, enjoy your bangers and mash.

Name and address supplied

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Awarding big rises just doesn't add up

SIR – Re: 'Big pay rise for borough chiefs' (T&C, April 17). It amazes me that these people are going to be paid almost as much as the Prime
Minister of the country. It doesn't add up.

If they are to be paid this much, then I think they should be
answerable to the citizens whom they are serving. The county council chiefs got away with huge salaries and in the end it was their egos that drove them to spend taxpayers' money in futile attempts to get their way, the wrong sort of politics.

Name and address supplied

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Well done, the peasants now await the crumbs!

SIR – The signal has been received loud and clear; something big is
happening, re: 'Big pay rises for borough chiefs' (T&C, April 17).

I refer readers to my letter in the Times & Citizen (September 8, 2006, requesting MPs and councillors explain what they are working to achieve, now that the cost of daily living for many exceeds income.

What a remarkable achievement; the Chancellor has scrapped the ten pence tax rate and we have been given assurance that with the
borough council achieving unitary status our council tax bills would be reduced.

Well done the chiefs. They deserve this reward, now the peasants await the crumbs.

Ian Pettit
Risborough Road, Bedford

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Pay for council chiefs should be capped

SIR – I'd like to comment on your front page story 'Big pay rises for borough chiefs' (T&C, April 17).

The proposed salary for Shaun Field could be £150,000-£165,000. The justification for this is that salaries must reflect market conditions in order to keep hold of the right people.

Well, the market conditions are: huge public sector costs, huge social and welfare costs, a credit squeeze and a slowing economy.

Against that background, councillors award ever higher salaries. How?
I suggest a complete review and a wage cap. It's the same story in other counties. According to one newspaper, London Mayor Ken
Livingstone is paid £137,000 plus expenses and his spending budget is at least as big if not bigger than Bedfordshire's.

Mr D Meyers
Goldington Road, Bedford

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Any savings to be made should go to taxpayers

SIR – Re: 'Big pay rises for borough chiefs' (T&C, April 17), specifically Shaun Field who is set to receive more than £150,000 per annum.

I must be very stupid or wrong. I thought when voting for unitary
status that council taxpayers, we second-class, moderately-paid (if
pensioners, poorly-paid) people that keep council officers in their jobs would get a refund on our council tax bills. I am a pensioner, I struggle to pay my council tax; we had a rise of £3/£4 in our pension. I thought Government guidelines were that pay rises should be kept in line with inflation.

I find this obscene, grossly outrageous. I want answers.

How come chiefs, key workers, and maybe the Mayor and councillors, are in line to getting enormous rises?

Also, I note the county council has also agreed to award top officers large pay bonuses.

Councillors' work used to be voluntary, no pay. Now it's done for money; my family worked for the good of the people, not now.

Times are very hard. We poor council taxpayers, and there are many who are even selling their homes in their old age because they cannot pay their council tax, cannot manage.

I was told by a councillor council tax would be lower, instead
councillors are paying more money; it is we who should be getting the money – at least a free month's council tax. At this rate we will never get a refund.

Roland Simmonds said higher salaries were needed for "current
market conditions". What world does he think the rest of us live in? Repay us our money.

Mrs Brown
Foster Hill Road, Bedford

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Time to think about law-abiding taxpayer

SIR – With reference to your article on scrap metal, and Coun John
Mingay's comments reference working within the law, when do so called travellers respect the law?

Is it not time to think of the law-abiding council taxpayer who picks up the bill every time there is a clean-up operation.

What's wrong with getting our local DSD contractors moving them on with the help of a couple of JCBs which I am sure could be made available with the help of our elected Mayor. If they will not move on, lift them off onto the highway, then they would have no option but to move on.

FG White
Kempston

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I don't want to live in middle of Bed-Keynes

SIR – The outline proposal for the Marston Vale and New Marston
eco-towns brings its own special irony; this, added to the planning applications to make Lidlingtown and Marstown, is frankly amusing, given the time, effort and money which has already been put into the so-called 'forest' of Marston Vale. It raises the question, are these new dwellings all going to be treehouses, so they can obtain the eco badge?
The irony goes even further; the brick companies had to shut down their works because a few squirrels in Norway were allegedly being affected by acid rain from the chimneys.

Now it is being proposed to cover thousands of acres of land, under which there are millions of tons of brick clay, with houses made of bricks which will be brought in by road from elsewhere in the country or more likely from overseas – interesting maths to work out how carbon-neutral these new homes will be, certainly too tricky for me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no eco-warrior; when I bought my house 20 years ago I was advised there would either be houses built behind me or they would dig a big hole to extract clay. Luckily neither has happened (yet) and I would certainly rather see new homes out of my window than the moonscape that covers much of the vale, but what I don't want is to live in the middle of Bed-Keynes.

20,000 new homes probably need 50,000 new jobs and I really can't see the need for even more warehouses and distribution centres, so where will these people find work? Perhaps the homes will be filled by the migrant building workers we will invite to build them!

Am I just a NIMBY? Probably yes! But I believe adding a few houses to every village in the country is a better policy that building new towns/cities.

Martyn Elmy
Hudson Close, Lidlington

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Town should be proud of our soldiers

SIR – After hearing our troops were banned from wearing their uniform in public over in Peterborough, I find Bedford has the same ban.
A company sergeant major at Chicksands has banned his soldiers from proudly wearing their uniforms off camp and especially so in Bedford. Surely, at the time of fighting al Qaeda and terrorism, we need to be giving and showing our young soldiers our total support.

What on earth has happened? These are the same soldiers who are willing to die for our country and, by default, die for us, Don't we in
Bedford care?

Greg Warwick
High Street, Bedford

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T&C helps throw light on the subject

SIR – Thank you to the Times & Citizen for drawing attention to my campaign to fix street lights in Brickhill Drive which had not been working for six months.

After you reported details of my campaign challenging EDF to make essential repairs, the lights were fixed within days. The press are often blamed for ills in society, but we must also pay tribute when good journalism brings results and makes such a positive contribution to our community – so well done Times & Citizen.

Coun Charles Royden
(Lib Dem, Brickhill)
Bedford Borough Council

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Delay of two-tier schooling needed

SIR – I have just become aware of the proposals to introduce a two-tier system for Bedford and Kempston schools.

However, I do not see the point in going through with expensive discussions in this regard since it is quite possible the new
unitary authority due to be created in April 2009 would disregard them and scrap any decisions or recommendations which may have been made by the current council.

My further concern in this matter is that I have a nine-year old autistic grandson with ADHD and probably dyslexia (for which he receives no help), whose reading is poor and whose writing is almost non-existent.

Last September he started at a Kempston middle school which (admittedly according to rumour) may be closed within two years if the two-tier system goes through, so he would have to change schools yet again.

Since the autism means that any kind of change or disruption to his routine puts back his progress to a huge extent, I am extremely concerned for him and those with similar problems.

Why oh why cannot the discussions – if still considered necessary – wait until the formation of the new unitary authority?

Name and address supplied

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Media guilty of influencing society

SIR – Re: 'You've been framed' (T&C, April 10).Yet again the media fails to recognise its role in society. By publishing, you are in effect prompting issues and encouraging others to do things they might have resisted; eg,"If others do it, it must be OK," –"Oh, that's a good idea, I would not have thought of that had I not read it in the papers or seen it on TV." The fact that it is already in the public domain is not a reason to widen the publicity.

The media, including TV, no longer reflects society, it is creating society and a very anti-social one at that.

When was the last time you concentrated on the good things that are going one rather than the sensational?

Chris Giles
by email

Editor's note: The Times & Citizen is a community newspaper with a tradition of reporting positive news and will honour the town's unsung heroes at its Pride In Bedford awards night on May 12.

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Honk if you have had enough

SIR – I am writing in response to the story about 'caravan dwellers' in the Cardington Road area. I use the term 'caravan dwellers' for want of a better or more PC name. I understand one family are attempting to promote a decent image – bagging their rubbish etc.

However, I am not alone in my disgust at the fouling of our town by the numerous other 'travellers'. The discarded gas bottles, scrap metal, rubbish, broken toys and damage to landscape must stop.

I call for a, 'Honk if you have had enough' campaign. Upon passing the said visitors, please sound your horn. I now apologise to the permanent residents of Cardington Road for any inconvenience this may cause, but I cannot imagine how distasteful it must be to look out of your front window and see the abuse of your area.

We are asked to have pride in Bedford, so let's start showing it.

Sarah
by email