Dear Sir,
I am really starting to question just what on earth do we, the residents of Aycliffe, get in return for the council tax that we have to pay? It is extortionate, unjustified and, in a lot of peoples’ cases, I don’t doubt, unaffordable.
The green spaces in Woodham, on both sides of Woodham Way, where the BMX bike track is, were cut on the 14th May. The grass was a foot long, well overdue and the leftover cut grass would provide enough silage to feed a herd of cows for a full month! How are kids expected to play any ball games on there with that much cut grass lying all over the place?
And then there’s the recurrent issue of overflowing bins. This has been a problem for years and has been commented on previously, though it does not get any better. I can’t imagine they are emptied more than once a week, but, if they are, then it needs to be even more than the current number. It’s just not good enough.
I’m only living in a band C property and yet I have to pay £2300 a year, or £230 a month for ten months. To some families that will be a big chunk of their monthly income. As a pensioner, that is a lot to me.
What happened to the rant that Councillor Stead made about the double taxation we are forced to pay in Aycliffe, whereas residents in Chester le Street, Crook and Consett pay significantly less than we do? Like all politicians, he has dropped the subject like a hot potato.
I’m sure other readers will be able to highlight plenty of other examples of reduced services in Aycliffe that are seeing this town fall further into decline. Perhaps it’s time the salaries of the Chief Exec of Durham County Council, (well in excess of £100,000), and other top ranking councillors, were cut just like our services that are dwindling more and more, year on year.
Name and address supplied.