LETTER: Important point of principle

On August 22 this year, you were gracious enough to print a letter which I had submitted to you, concerning a reckless and irresponsible overcharge by Billingshurst Parish Council (BPC), when it sought to claw back funds from parishioners to compensate for a reduction of government grant.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Nov 2013, 08:00 BST
What's on.What's on.
What's on.

My letter was prompted by an earlier submission (WSCT, August 8) from councillor Roger Arthur (UKIP, Chanctonbury), who pointed out that the increase in the precept should have been 6p in respect of a Band D property, whereas BPC had imposed an impost of 84p, a fourteen-fold upwards leverage.

I put my letter in the public domain because it dealt with an important point of principle that I felt local council taxpayers should be aware of.

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I expected BPC to respond to my letter through the correspondence columns of your newspaper or even a personal letter to me, offering some sort of explanation, that either its mathematical skills were primitive or that it simply wished to extort as much money as possible from long-suffering taxpayers.

As I write, 11 weeks following publication of my letter, there has still been no response from this lamentable parish council, which continues to cower behind a wall of silence.

Your readers may well conclude that either it is ashamed of its contempt for the interests of the residents of Billingshurst, or it cannot bring itself to admit it cannot do arithmetic.

M.D. SMITH

High Street, Billingshurst

Related topics:Billingshurst