ONE grows accustomed to the regular moans of Margaret Morley about Redditch Council but I did not think that she would complain about our attempts to get Tesco to keep open the town centre store.

Tesco, on its own admission, is making "substantial profits" in Redditch.

It was on this basis, and because so many people had written to us, that we tried to persuade Tesco to keep the shop open.

I repeat, for Mrs Morley's benefit, Redditch Council has no say in the level of business rate charged in the town. This is the rate charged to industrialists and shop owners and is fixed nationally.

It is correct the council collects it but we do not, as she claims, spend it. It is paid over to the Exchequer.

While on Mrs Morley's errors, two weeks or so ago she claimed in a local newspaper that the council had stopped the service where payment of council house rents could be done across Post Office counters.

Again, she is wrong. That service was ended by the Post Office itself, as far as I know, right across the country.

Our tenants with no way of getting to pay their rents can be catered for by manual collection.

A little care and inquiry could save a lot of newsprint.

Albert Wharrad

Council Leader

Redditch Council