RAY Turner (Letters, March 15) commented on council tax and the low increase that Eastleigh Borough Council has applied when compared to the county council's hike of more than four per cent.

Eastleigh Council already has one of the highest rates of council tax in Hampshire and has only achieved these small annual increases by the selling the town's assets, the most notorious example being the disposal to developers of the allotments. This is the way EBC finances its political promises.

It has only been the heroic fight by allotment holders and the town's people that has prevented further allotments being lost, Grantham Green recreation ground being built on and the deplorable scheme to evict elderly people from their council owned Velmore bungalows to build flats.

None of us want to pay more tax but in Eastleigh we need to recognise that the price we pay is not always financial.

RICHARD MAY, Eastleigh.