DEREK Pattison, who suggested councillors weren’t equipped to deal with complex issues (HAS, July 30), might have been right or wrong. However, councillors are well equipped to say what the effects of council changes will have on their voters and that’s what makes them vital.

But councillors, too, are disenfranchised by the cabinet system of local government.

Until that undemocratic system is abolished the real decision-makers can never be held to account.

I want my elected representatives to pressure councils and social housing landlords to freeze rents for at least a year. Social landlords already generate large amounts of surplus cash under their “not for profit” banner. I want this (and other charges) frozen because of the debt looming large for many people in the light of spending cuts.

Recently, predatory “doorstep”

lenders targeted Darlington, Spennymoor and other areas with their irresponsible lending technique of “low weekly payments”. They know people will be forced into their hands as benefits fall and jobs are lost.

I want my councillors to address this now to stop a bigger problem arising. All it would take is a modest amount of money to be put into a social fund available to residents. Here in Darlington it would cost far less then the “magic roundabout” at Haughton or the town centre so-called “improvements”.

Tom Hodgson, Darlington.