Editor: I have been reading with interest your various reports regarding the state of Aberystwyth town. Your Special Report (Cambrian News, 21 September) made very interesting reading. When I moved to Aberystwyth 40 years ago from Pembrokeshire, the first thing I noticed was how clean the town was. Sadly, that is no longer the case.

One minute the council says that it does not have the money to carry out repair and maintenance work then manages to find £600,000 to buy a car park.

There are 70-plus job applications on the Ceredigion County Council website with the lowest salary of £18,333 and the highest being £48,727. Assuming those jobs get filled, how is the council going to find the money to pay the wages if they are ‘skint’? Something doesn’t seem to add up.

It may be interesting to know that five of the councillors that represent Aberystwyth and Penparcau are Plaid Cymru. Aberystwyth Town Council has a Plaid Cymru majority.

This brings me to the second part of your Special Report. One of the Penparcau councillors (Plaid Cymru) states, ‘I can’t speak to council officers’ (Cambrian News, 21 September). He has to email them and often doesn’t get a reply.

Since when have council officers been allowed to treat elected councillors with this sort of contempt? If council officers can simply ignore the elected representative why do we need councillors at all?

Would it not be better, then, to elect the council officers?

Chris Samuel, Aberystwyth