Madam,

Re your article in your editions of 13 April, ’Over 200 per cent council tax increase’.

This article states that council tax in Gwynedd has soared by more than 200 per cent in 20 years. On the face of it, this sounds like a shocking statistic. However, if my maths is correct, this equates to about 5.7 per cent per annum on average over the 20-year period – a much less frightening statistic.

When quoting these figures, it may help to provide some wider context, such as percentage increases in property prices, rents, wages, pensions and the general cost of living over the same time period, and also council tax increases over the same time period in other areas of the UK.

Re your article in the same issue, 'Thousands of voters being denied a choice’.

The article quite rightly highlights the issue of a number of county councillors who will be automatically returned to office without having had to be subject to democratic election by the local electorate. The same also applies to a number of town councillors.

This is a disappointing state of affairs but, one has to say, not the fault of the councillors who are standing for office. If there are not more candidates willing to stand than there are seats available, then there is no point in holding a ballot, since even a single vote (that of the candidate, for example) would be sufficient to elect them.

The article goes on to quote Jess Blair, who said: “This is a symptom of a broken First Past the Post voting system”. Well, no it isn’t. This situation is a symptom of insufficient candidates, which may or may not be a symptom of insufficient education of the electorate, or a lack of timeliness in reminding the electorate that nominations for candidates are required before appropriate cut-off dates.

I’m also with Jess Blair regarding widening the franchise to include 16-year-olds, automatic voter registration (with appropriate precautions), and certainly fair funding for political parties; but again, I don’t see how these issues, with the possible exception of the funding issue, would have any impact where insufficient candidates are willing to stand.

Re your article, ’Closing toilets could have negative effect on tourism’, as a Tywyn resident, the threat of closure of public toilets in Tywyn is of particular concern to me.

One has to wonder at the mental competence of anyone suggesting closure of public toilets. This is hardly a subject of great aesthetic appeal, but it is certainly one of great practical value. Let’s face facts. The availability of public toilets is a mark of civilisation, and the removal of them a mark of barbarism.

Can there be anyone on either the county council or the town council who has such limited mental capacity that he or she believes that taking away public toilets also takes away the public’s need for toilets? Take away the public toilets, and the councils won’t just have to worry about dogs fouling the streets.

Yours etc,

Alan Jones, Neptune Road, Tywyn.

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