COUNCIL TAX: THE Local Government Act 2003 gives Whitehall new powers to change the banding of council tax, and levy extra charges on higher valued homes across England.

As a result, council tax bills could soar to new levels. Across the country, council tax has risen three times the rate of inflation every year since Labour came to power.

In Darlington, council taxes have risen for houses in Band D from £598 to £1,003 per annum. Yet worse is to come.

The Labour Government, supported by Liberal Democrats, is planning to increase council taxes on higher valued homes by changing the banding of council tax. For instance, someone in a Band H home in Darlington could see their council tax bill go through the roof, reaching £2,678 per annum.

As Whitehall will take this extra revenue, local services will not benefit.

This will hit pensioners and families who have lived in their homes for a long time ,who are on a modest income while the value of their property has increased due to market forces.

Council tax is becoming yet another stealth tax engineered in Whitehall with local councillors taking the blame. - Charles Johnson, Darlington.

SHOPPING

A NEW shopping centre for Darlington is all very nice, but will all the shops be occupied?

Not if all the empty shops in the town centre area are anything to go by. There are currently around 25 shops lying empty in the centre of Darlington, as well as four in Cockerton.

Darlington Borough Council produces a leaflet advertising the indoor and outdoor markets. It claims that there are over 100 stalls on the market. Absolutely rubbish. There may be over 100 pitches between the two markets but there are certainly not 100 traders.

We have to ask why are there so many empty shops and stalls in Darlington? Could it be the high rates that are demanded which can kill off a new business before it has even got off the ground?

Where are the incentives to encourage new and different businesses into the town? It's all very well having the Dixons, Burtons, New Look, Top Shop and all the other big names, but we want the variety that the small independent traders can bring.

Maybe Darlington Borough Council should be trying to fill the empty shops in the town before sanctioning new developments. - M Lorraine Dunn, Darlington.

HUNTING

THE Government's Hunting Bill recently went back to the House of Lords for its verdict.

What started as a regulatory solution has been hijacked by backbenchers and converted into a total ban.

The last time this was attempted, the Lords gave it short shrift on the basis that such a law would neither advance animal welfare nor the public interest.

Thus when the Bill goes into committee towards the end of this month, we hope the peers will again reject this outcome in favour of a fair and workable regulatory system to which all hunting must adhere.

Not only would this outcome be in line with current public opinion, but it would also command the respect and consent of the rural community.

The organisations listed below represent land use and agricultural interests over the vast majority of the UK. Jointly, we urge the Government to honour its commitment to resolve the hunting issue on the basis of evidence and principle, rather than personal taste.

This is the only outcome that is likely to enforceable, seen as fair and therefore likely to stand the test of time. - Sir Ben Gill, President, National Farmers Union; Simon Hart, Chief Executive Designate, Countryside Alliance; Ken Butler, Chairman, National Gamekeepers Organisation; Sir Edward Greenwell, President, Country Land and Business Association; Gareth Vaughan, President, Farmers Union of Wales.

EUROPE

TONY Blair told the Labour Party Conference that he had not given up the option of taking Britain into the euro and signing up to a new European Constitution.

He still cannot recognise the basic truth - that British public opinion overwhelmingly demands a voice on the EU Constitution.

He spoke of false choices. But it is the Labour leader who presents false choices on Europe. He used fear, he offered a false scenario that Britain must either follow him into a centralised Europe or be vulnerable and isolated if we choose to preserve our democracy.

The British public have demanded that they have the final say as to whether or not the UK signs up to Valry Giscard d'Estaing's EU Constitution. The failure to listen will rank as a major mistake.

The Government intends to push through Parliament a highly controversial Treaty without allowing the people the chance to decide in a referendum. If it does so Labour will provoke resentment and become even more riddled with internal divisions. - Jeremy Middleton, Prospective Conservative Candidate, European Parliament.