SO Swindon wants to raise its council tax by 9.5 per cent because of Government underfunding.

Why cannot our 59 councillors reduce the estimated expenses?

What has been done to make a claim for recompense in respect of the Wiltshire County Council pension fund holiday?

This resulted in a deficit of £40 million before Swindon became a unitary council, of which £27.5 million has been paid by our council from the £93 million obtained from the sale of the Brunel Centre.

Now a waste of £125,000, spent on 43 laptop computers for some of our councillors, agreed by the all three parties in March of this year.

How much more wastage of finances goes on?

Why should thousands of pensioners, who have tried to provide for possible longevity by saving a little year by year when wages were a half of today's earnings, now have to try to pay an unjustified, outrageous increase of 9.5 per cent on their Council Tax?

Our Government has done extremely well in helping us pensioners with extra monetary benefits, only for us now to have to try to pay an utterly unaffordable council tax increase.

Why can't our councillors make an allowance for OAPs and reduce the increase to one they can pay.

Failing this let us all make our presence known and felt; and make an OAP collective protest at the Civic Offices after parading our way through the town.

R D WALDRON

The Mall

Swindon