I HAVE little sympathy when a church suffers lead theft for the second time when the solution is alternative lead flashing, such as Ubliflex, which has no scrap value and is just as efficient – although you might need a notice to point this out to some lead thieves.

Bearing in mind the water damage to many historic buildings, it makes good sense to replace the lead before it is stolen, where the scrap value will meet some of the cost of fitting lead free.

I cannot help but think that many lead thieves are illegal immigrants who are not allowed to work and for which I have some sympathy, but do not have the ID to open a bank account and can only earn cash.

Once again it is our Government that could reduce the theft of railway copper or brass memorial plaques – like my late wife’s and many from the bench at Lyndhurst – by stopping payments for scrap in cash and issuing cheques against positive photographic ID.

The scrap merchants might do themselves some good as the practice of weighing a lorry in and out and dumping it all in one great mountain is open to abuse, like night storage heaters still with their thermal bricks and water filled metal containers.

COUNCILLOR PHILIP PEARCE-SMITH, Southampton.