I WAS interested to read the letter from Bill Wiggin MP and your leading article, which referred to it in last week's edition.

Frankly, while I take no particular pleasure in paying Council Tax, I realise the many benefits we obtain from the council have to be paid for. There's no such thing as something for nothing.

For example, the roads in Herefordshire receive nothing like the attention they need - the atrocious surface of much of the A4103 between Cradley and Hereford is a case in point. This repair, even rebuilding on some stretches, simply cannot be achieved without money being spent - I cannot see why people don't realise this. It doesn't come free!

The real problem is that we do not pay according to our means; thus people on limited incomes are nevertheless required to pay as much, (according to their size of home), as well off folk.

This means there is an unanswerable case for local income tax, which is unpopular with the Tories and Labour just because it is a policy of the Liberal Democrats.

Eventually something is going to have to be done about the roads and the longer they are left because the money isn't there to pay for repairs the worse the expenditure will eventually have to be. Work it out for yourselves.

JOHN GILBERT, Pixiefield, Cradley.