‘We are forced to pay for services which are sub-standard and cannot get them elsewhere’

• THE chair of Camden Council’s audit committee attempts to justify pay increases on the basis that their levels remained “consistently below“ those set by an independent panel, (Councillors back £130k spend to raise their own allowances, March 7).

I have no objection to paying them more from my pension if councillors demonstrated that they improved our services.

The cabinet member for housing, as an example, will get a reported £42k per year from April. Yet the record of the service he allegedly scrutinises includes a devastating report from the Social Housing Regulator, a fine of £500,000 for failure to provide required safety procedures, and a repairs department that is a joke.

I wrote to the relevant cabinet member and asked what compensation and help had been given to the 10 homeless people whose tents and possessions had been thrown into a dust cart back in November, but got no response.

Some councillors do sterling work, for example the chairs of the disability oversight panel. But they get the same allowance as others who do nothing.

Perhaps the chair of the audit committee should be auditing the performance of her colleagues and adjusting their allowances accordingly.

In times of yore the council published councillors’ attendance rates at meetings. No longer.

Perhaps the audit chair could also turn the scrutiny of her committee to the salaries paid to top officers, at least two of whom are paid more than the prime minister.

Please do not trot out the excuse that it is all the fault of government cuts. We are forced to pay for services which are sub-standard and cannot get them elsewhere.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED, NW5