MR B Lawrence is dissatisfied (Closing the town?,  Mailbag, January 25) and he says everything is  Kirklees Councils fault. I hope he feels better for  getting that off his chest but he makes a number of  serious mistakes.
First, he thinks business rates are exorbitant.  Perhaps so, but they are 100% controlled by central  government, not by the council.
If the council could set its own business rates then we  could have a meaningful discussion about what their  level should be.
In that circumstance, there should also be a national  system of compensation of those council areas with  particular economic problems and with little business to provide income for local services.
Mr Lawrence regards local council tax levels as  swingeing. It is possible that he is, like most of us,  occupying a modest property at or below the middle  tax band. Anyone in this group is over-taxed.
With the abolition of domestic rates, this middle  group has had to pay more than their fair share of  local taxation to make up for  the  reduced sums  payable by the very rich.
Because rates were more closely related to ability to  pay, they were much fairer than council tax. No  wonder many citizens are feeling the burden imposed  by the change, which was introduced by a Conservation government. We have never all been in it  together.
We should be campaigning for the replacement of  council tax  by something comparable with the  rates.
When it comes to car parking charges and services  like public toilets, libraries and museums, Kirklees  Council is suffering massive and unfair cuts in  government grants as well having to cope with  central government controls over council tax.
Realistically, it does not have the option of setting a  deficit budget. It is, therefore, left with no choice but  to examine all services for cuts and to seek ways of  raising significant income from charges so it can  balance its budget.
Parking charges as long as they are not so high as  to disadvantage our area in competition with other  areas   are just one way of obtaining income that can  be used to prevent some services closing down  altogether.  
I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of  articles in the Examiner about how Kirklees Council  is using some of its limited resources to regenerate  our town centre and to support local businesses and  employment.
I fear the Governments latest financial restrictions  and its failures to stimulate the national economy  will lead to further cuts in both council and national  government services.
All sections of the community will suffer from that,  but the blame for it lies with national government.  The Tories would love it if local people made the  mistake of using the council as a scapegoat for the  Tory-led Governments harmful economic policies.
I trust Mr Lawrence does not intend to lead people in  the wrong decision.
Michael Hutchinson
Mirfield

Dirty old town
IF Im travelling on the top deck of a bus its  impossible not to notice all the accumulated rubbish  on the highways and byways in both Kirklees and  Calderdale.
It really is an eyesore. Theres the pebble-dashing of  chewing gum on pavements and dog dirt on the  streets, parks and childrens play areas.
The shrubbery at the top of Chapel Hill, near where  I live, is in a disgusting state and will get worse with  all the takeaway shops when the new college opens.  Even the Civic Centre area looks neglected with  cigarette stubs all around the immediate area of the  magistrates court.
This council cannot blame anyone else for this state  of affairs.
Anthony Smith
Springwood

Laws too lenient
I CAN understand the family of Gary Pedelty  (Richard Mail jailed for four years for drink-drive  horror crash, Examiner, January 28) feeling angry  over for the paltry sentence of the person who got  four years for drink driving, speeding at 75mph in a  60mph zone and killing their son.
If that is the full force of the law for that kind of  motoring office, then its some law!
J C Ward
Scissett

Holocaust memories
I WOULD like to thank Kirklees Council for the  invitation to its well-organised  Holocaust  Memorial Day. It brought back many memories.
I was a candidate for extermination after being  accused of forming the Polish (youth) Legion.  I  managed to escape by luck but my college friend  and teacher didnt and both of them lasted only one  month in the special political unit.
Originally, Auschwitz was created to eliminate the  Polish intelligentsia and managed to kill 500,000 of  them.
Tony Sosna
Huddersfield
Fouling by dogs
I AM most pleased that the council is at last getting  tough with dog owners who are letting their dogs  foul public places and are not cleaning the mess  up.
I have complained about this for over 30 years, so  lets hope this time it works. Some of the money  would help to save some of the toilets we are  told will close this year.
The community medicine specialist at  Manchester University has suggested re-introducing dog licences, the extra revenue being  used to pay for dog wardens.
We have six million dogs in Britain depositing  100 tonnes of excrement each day.
If dog owners kept their dogs in their own  gardens until theyd done their business and  then took them for exercise, a lot of the  problems, including the disease of toxocariasis,  would diminish.
H Barrowclough
Waterloo

Burton by-election
MIKE Greetham of Highburton questions why  Kirkburton Parish Council finances are being  wasted on three parish by-elections in February  this year (Costly democracy, Mailbag, January 28).
The answer is because the Conservatives have  specifically called for these by-elections to take  place rather than let the Parish Council fill the  vacancies by co-option at nil cost.
They have called the by-elections for two seats  in Kirkburton and one in Shepley. In Kirkburton there are two parish seats available but  despite calling this costly by-election they have  been able to find only one candidate.
The candidate the Conservatives have chosen is   Adrian Murphy, a Kirklees councillor who is  up for re-election in May.
Over the past years he has never shown any particular interest in the Parish Council and was always a poor attendee of meetings when he was on the Parish Council. You are forced to think that this is not a genuine desire to be a Parish Councillor working on local projects but probably a cynical political ploy with one eye on the Kirklees Elections in May.

John Taylor is standing as the Conservative  Party candidate in the Shepley ward. In the  Shepley Village Magazine  he refers to stepping  down as a parish councillor last year and his  retirement from the role.  
Actually he never stepped down. He lost his  seat because he didnt attend for a period of  over six months and as such under Parish  Council rules was removed from office. He had been a very poor attendee of meetings attending only 11 meetings out of a possible 48 in his last 2 years of office.
To  avoid a by-election following John Taylors  vacancy, in 2010 the Green Party supported the  co-option of Clr Adrian Murphy to the Parish  Council for Shepley. Ironically, he was also a  very poor attendee of Parish Council meetings,  turning up to only 12 meetings out of a possible  35 in his two years of office.
 John Taylor said he wanted to avoid the costs of a By-Election by being co-opted onto the Council.  Effectively he was saying to us that we had to co-opt him, despite his unreliability and equally poor attendance record, or the Conservatives would call a By-Election which in the end was what they did. This by-election, along with the Kirkburton,  one,  takes s8,000 out of the Parish Councils  s122,000 budget and out of funds that we could  use to benefit the communities we represent.  The real irony of this is that the other Conservative parish councillor for Shepley who was  elected last May has attended five out of a  possible 25 meetings this year.
It would be a shame indeed if the Conservatives  were rewarded for playing politics with local  peoples money and for seeking to mislead  people over their role in calling these by-elections.
What would you have spent s8,000 on in your  village?
 Clr Andrew Cooper
 Kirkburton Parish Councillor,  Farnley Tyas and Thurstonland

Amazing concert
ON Saturday I had the privilege of attending a  concert in Huddersfield Town Hall.  The concert was in aid of my charity appeal and I have  to say, it was absolutely amazing.
The youngsters from the Halifax Young Singers  were wonderful and I would like to thank them  publicly for giving up their free time to come  and sing for us.  
I would also say the same about the Meredith  Family and Ellie who also gave their time and  gave the audience a taste of Les Miserables.   They were truly wonderful and turned what was  always going to be a first class concert into a  remarkable experience enjoyed by everyone.
As for the Brighouse and Rastrick Band, well  what can I say about the best band in the land!   I can think of many superlatives but superb will  have to do.  
So a great big thank you to them and, of course,  to Paul and Julie Beaumont for making this  possible, to the man who made the evening flow  so well, our compšre Jon Hammond, who  superbly provided the glue which linked  everything together.  He was a brilliant.
And finally to all who came on Saturday many  thanks for supporting the Mayors Charity,  which is of course the Forget Me Not Childrens  Hospice.  
I will remember this wonderful evening for a  long time and it will certainly go down as one of  the highlights of my Mayoral year.
Before I close I must of course give my thanks  to Gina Fielding, the volunteers who sold raffle  tickets and all involved in organising this event  you were all fantastic!
Clr Eric Firth
Mayor of Kirklees

Speed cameras
ON the subject of the safety concerns of parents  on Bradley Road despite traffic calming  methods being installed and a speed limit of  40mph, there have been many fatalities and  accidents on this stretch of road. Also a college  with hundreds of students is situated on this  very busy road.
I am sure that if speed cameras  were installed   they would in a very short period of time create  enough revenue (paid in fines) to pay for a much  needed pedestrian crossing.
Polly Morgan