SIR – Addingham Parish Council’s decision to finance from their reserves the provision of extra grit bins and brighter Christmas lights (T&A, January 25) is just another example of taxpayers paying twice for the one Council service.

Assuming that the grit bins are necessary for the safety and wellbeing of the village, their installation and maintenance costs should be born by the Public Highways department of the District Council, which exists to satisfy the needs of all the areas within the district and which is financed through council tax receipts and central government funding – all taxpayers’ money.

The Parish Council’s suggestion of a one-off charge of £5 on every village household next year to cover these costs merely rubs salt into the wound and could stir our lacklustre representatives in City Hall to extend this notion to all ‘out-of-town’ parish councils – the better to increase their wherewithal to squander on their ever-escalating (but, as yet, secret) expenses and allowances.

D A Moncaster, Fyfe Grove, Baildon