IT is good to see that Cyril Carter (Letters, September 24) has an eye to recycling: he must have recycled his letter at least four times to my knowledge. He obviously still lives in the past as far as Huntingdon High Street is concerned, as he vividly re

IT is good to see that Cyril Carter (Letters, September 24) has an eye to recycling: he must have recycled his letter at least four times to my knowledge. He obviously still lives in the past as far as Huntingdon High Street is concerned, as he vividly remembers the 1950s.

I believe that all through traffic went through Huntingdon High Street at that time. Unfortunately, with the progress of modern times and in these days of town centre by-passes and out-of-town supermarkets, high inflation and low salaries and pensions, people's wants and needs change.

We all want to seek out bargains in food and clothing, and it is this that has caused the demise of the smaller retail outlets we once had in the high street. For the remaining shops in the high streets, we all have to use them or lose them. Shop owners have to make a profit to make a living in order for their premises to remain open.

Mr Carter goes on about councillors having big salaries and plush offices: how wrong can he be? The new council offices are for the administration of the council business. They will accommodate the council's employees. Back-bencher councillors do not have offices. We have a members' room where every councillor can use the one computer supplied by HDC.

For the most part, we all work from home, attending HDC for meetings and seminars, and for carrying out the duties for which we were elected.

I served for eight years on Huntingdon Town Council and four years on Stukeleys Parish Council and at present I am serving on Godmanchester Town Council. I have not received any councillor allowances or expenses for any of these positions, except for the mayoral purse. A large number of other councillors also serve on parish or town councils

My district council allowance is used to support as many charities as my wife and I can attend. The fuel allowance is paid only for mileage on official duties. The costs of extra heating, lighting and all of the other costs of working from home, not forgetting car purchases and fuel usage for constituency work, come out of my own pocket.

Mr Carter has it completely wrong - so he should stop harping on about things until he has all the facts, instead of listening to hearsay.

Councillor JEFF DUTTON

Former Mayor of Huntingdon