I can assure everyone that the Conservative administration is determined to keep next year's council tax to the absolute minimum but we need to be realistic.
Rising costs, especially for fuel and energy, are affecting the county council in the same way as they are affecting everyone else and are already placing severe pressures on our budget.

We are in the same position as others in that our money is not going as far this year as it did 12 months ago. In addition, we face an ever growing demand for services.
We are constantly reviewing all areas of expenditure in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs and have pledged to involve the public much more in helping us to set priorities for services and spending.

The Liberal Democrats are completely wrong to describe our management shake-up of four years ago as a failure. That exercise has improved efficiency and ensured we are focusing on the issues that matter most to our residents.

In an ever changing world, management reviews are an ongoing process if we are to live within ever tighter budgets.

Cllr Jill Tuck
Leader
Cambridgeshire County Council

>> I write in response to the leader of the Liberal Democrats at Cambridgeshire County Council, Cllr David Jenkins.
Some very sensible points were raised about the need for councils to budget carefully at this time of economic uncertainty.

However, perhaps he could have a quiet word with his Lib Dem party colleagues ruling St Neots Town Council who have just approved over £300,000 of debt for the Eatons Community Centre. They are also looking at accruing upwards of £400,000 of debt for a new cemetery and allotments and have spent thousands of pounds on more consultants and put in a council tax rise of 8.9 per cent this year.

It would surely be better if we could have some joined up thinking from the Lib Dems. It does seem as though they favour pursuing one policy at Shire Hall while another in St Neots.

If it is beyond our Lib Dem leaders to effectively manage our local finances, perhaps the people of St Neots should re-think their choice of councillors at the next election.

Catherine Hutton
Eynesbury

Thanks for your concern

>> On return from doing a circuit of Eynesbury Tesco on August 27 – using a small trolley for both balance and my single purchase – I returned to the car to await my wife, who deals with the bulk of our shopping.

There was a tap at my window from a member of staff. It seems that a customer had been concerned that I looked pale and appeared to be having trouble breathing and she wanted to know if I was alright.
I do have trouble with my breathing and this lady didn't leave until I had assured her that this was all quite normal and I could cope.
When, daily, our news seems to range from gratuitous violence through to a mind-numbing lack of concern for others, I found it so heart-warming and encouraging to be reminded of the kindness that exists around us. Pockets of resistance to make a difference!

Trolley men, security staff and others in this branch of Tesco have, on occasion, asked if I was feeling alright.
May I, through your pages, give my sincere thanks to all of them, the customer who noticed and the lady who tapped on my window.
Eddie Ramonde
Offord D'Arcy.

Criticism is unfair>>
I find it very annoying and insulting to all hardworking councillors when people like Mr Carter are allowed to put into print such obviously inaccurate comments (Town Crier, August 21).

Why should councillors have to pay for their own petrol when on official business? Frankly the average expenses claimed which have to be backed up by proof, rarely come to more than a few hundred pounds a year. Nowhere near to his claim of more than the average wage.
To say that there has been a massive influx of councillors is rubbish as in fact there are fewer now than when I first became a councillor.
To suggest a new building will mean more councillors is also rubbish as the number of seats is set out in a formula not controlled by the councils themselves.

As a former district councillor, I was always apalled at the conditions that staff had to work in within Pathfinder House. It was cold in the winter with staff bringing in their own fan heaters to supplement the inadequate central heating and stuffy in the summer unless you opened the window, leaving you deafened by the noise and choked by the fumes of traffic on the ring road.

That's not to mention the risk of being hit by bits of falling masonry
As for the money from the sale of council housing, when I was on the council, part was used to pay off borrowings, part was planned to be used for better facilities whilst at the same time the interest earned helped to keep the council tax down at amongst the lowest in the country. 

So what is the position now? Well, Mr Carter, try reading the literature sent out with your council tax bill, where the district council explains the current financial position.
Frankly councillors are underpaid for what they do and for the responsibility they take. When I was on the Cabinet, I was the equivalent of the chairman of a multi-million pound service industry, working an average of three days per week for just £70. 
Bob Barnes
St Neots

We've let A-level students down>>
Your correspondant of August 21 asks us not to criticise teenagers about A-levels.

I am 62 years old and very critical of the A-level system. But I do not blame teenagers; I blame my generation as we devised the system.
I believe that today's teenagers work just as hard as we did.
Alan Williams
Wyton