MY council tax bill for a Band C property in Pickering has just dropped through the letterbox, showing an increase over past year of £25 to £30, this being increases by North Yorkshire County Council, the Police, the Fire Brigade and Pickering Town Council.

Ryedale District Council will charge £27 for the garden waste bin in June and I, like many other householders, cannot do without it.

This is basically a rise in council tax by stealth, or in other words the ruling majority on the district council have joined the Gordon Brown fan club.

The basic state pension rises in April by £2.96 a week, so therefore the local authorities are taking 34 per cent away more or less immediately.

Not much left for the rising cost of living.

John Richardson, Pickering