THE proposal to withdraw free bus travel to the over-60s in Darlington before 9.30am (Echo, Jan 14) will hit hardest on elderly people who have to travel to Darlington Memorial or Bishop Auckland General hospitals for early morning appointments.

If Darlington Borough Council's cabinet accepts this proposal tomorrow, it will represent an attack on the sick and the elderly in our town - simply to help balance the books following the council's overspend on the Pedestrian Heart scheme.

The cabinet member responsible for this, Councillor David Lyonette, is being disingenuous when he says he wants to find out how many people would want to use the bus before 9.30am.

That information is already available: the bus company can tell him how many over-60s currently use the buses before 9.30am. Indeed, the cabinet document itself reveals that ten per cent of all concessionary fare bus journeys take place before 9.30am. All these people will have to pay full adult fare in future.

This is unacceptable and I call on the cabinet to reject this proposal at its meeting tomorrow evening and to show some compassion towards the more vulnerable people in our town. - Councillor Mike Barker, parliamentary spokesman, Darlington Liberal Democrats.

TOWN CRIER I HAVE just read Darlington Borough Council's January Town Crier and see that everything is hunky-dory.

Car parking paid for by mobile phone with more than 1,000 hits since September. Wow, that works out at an average of under two hits an hour, Monday to Saturday.

Some 10,000 lollipops distributed to town centre revellers as the soothing effect will calm them down, reduce potential for trouble and therefore cut crime. I am a little sceptical, but if this lateral thinking can be proven to reduce disorder let's see the scheme extended.

Residents can now recycle the estimated 2.3kg of cartons each household produces annually.

Townsfolk have to take the cartons themselves to a recycling centre and the fact they may burn more petrol getting there than the energy they are saving is obviously not green.

This could be solved easily if cartons were collected along with the normal fortnightly recycling collection.

Darlington only pays lip service to recycling to meet Government targets. If it was serious, cardboard would also be collected along with textiles, shoes, leather goods, etc.

I am sure many residents would be happy if the Town Crier was no longer produced as that would save on paper, printing and resources and many regard it as a propaganda publication. - Harvey Smith, Darlington.

COUNCIL TAX DARLINGTON Borough Council has asked for our opinions on the council tax for 2008-9 and I would suggest that the answer is plain and simple.

If council tax is to rise, yet again, then that increase should be no more than 1.9 per cent.

The police have been told that they will have their wage increase delayed so that it comes to 1.9 per cent - ie, the rate of inflation. The Prime Minister is urging MPs who, for the moment, settle their own pay, to agree to 1.9 per cent.

Pensions, both state and private, will rise by no more than 1.9 per cent, nor will the wages of council employees.

As council tax has doubled since the Government came to power by increasing it year on year by more than inflation there is an argument that there should be no increase at all.

Wages and pensions, from which the council tax must be paid, are to be limited to 1.9 per cent and if the council demands more then living standards will fall, as in past years, and now is the time to call a halt. No more than 1.9 per cent. - John W Antill, Darlington.