AS A 71-year-old pensioner (with a small private pension) paying full rent and council tax, I was shocked to read that students pay no council tax.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of student homes in this city. If they need their overflowing bins emptied, an ambulance, the Fire Service, or police like the rest of us, surely they should be contributing to these costs.

If they did, Southampton City Council wouldn’t have to make such savage cuts or raise the rates for everyone who does pay.

Who in their right mind, allows this non-payment for one group of residents to continue?

Many of us would like something for nothing, but when we have services such as the above, they have to be paid for. We should all be contributing.

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