LETTER TO THE EDITOR: More disabled, low income and carers needed on council
I KNOW you shouldn’t respond to personal attacks but we don’t have enough council members who are carers, disabled or in low paid occupations and the false statement regarding benefits and allowances needs to be addressed as it may well put off perfectly good councillors who fit into these and other benefit receiving categories.
Firstly, benefit rules allow you to become a councillor and the amount you can claim without affecting your benefits is £153 per week not the £0 per week I claimed last year. For claims above that the taper applies.
While I’m happy to take criticism I’m not happy to see potentially good councillors being put off by Advertiser letters writers making false claims though the “We’re only making plans for the ‘nice’ bits of town” crowd who would love to see no representatives at all from deprived areas and communities like mine who would speak up for those at the, for want of a better word, “lower” end of society who are all taxpayers too.
Cllr Michael Bennett-Sylvester