This April has seen yet another massive hike in our council tax for Potters Bar: this time an unbelievable 17 per cent.

At this rate this tax will be, before long, the costliest bill we have to pay, even outstripping mortgage repayments.

What are we getting for these Rolls Royce' payments? In transport we have a dwindling bus service with only four major routes into London left, and one of these is rumoured to be withdrawn this year. Last year, anyone living north of Cranbourne Road had their fares doubled as the London boundary was redrawn.

We have dirty streets littered with the remnants of fast food containers and if your refuse is collected on a day which coincides with a bank holiday, then tough you go without.

Occasionally you may see a police car racing on a reactive mission, but what about some pro-active work?

Not only are the streets full of parked vehicles but very often the pavements as well, and the grassed areas are gradually being transformed into muddy tracts seen by some as extra parking areas.

Perhaps next year, when the council announces another way-above inflation rise, we should adopt a can't pay, won't pay' attitude, which previously saw off the much-disliked poll tax.

Reg Sharpe

Deepdene, Potters Bar