LIKE many others, we discover much of what is happening in the borough via the Radcliffe Times.

So, in the light of council leader John Byrne's irrelevant and dismissive answer (Yours Truly, August 28) to the perfectly reasonable question about councillors' allowances posed by R. D. Calrow, we feel the editor was quite justified in demanding a suitably informed response on behalf of his readers.

Mr Calrow asked why the latest increase (50 per cent) in councillors' allowances was so great and just what councillors did to justify the payments made to them from the council tax. That's all people wish to know, and they can do without the political bluster, spin and rhetoric which has become this council's trademark.

Every time someone raises a pertinent issue on these pages, Coun Byrne goes on the offensive. assuming that questioning this council is simply a politically-motivated Tory plot to undermine Labour.

Coun Byrne is to receive £28,000 per annum in allowances. With power goes responsibility and councillors exist to represent and respond to the concerns of the local electorate.

Coun Byrne has a responsibility to answer Mr Calrow's question, and no right at all to personally attack him for his perceived impertinence in raising an issue with which councillors collectively seem distinctly uncomfortable.

Coun Byrne was once a teacher. He should know that he will be more effective if he stops ranting and starts explaining.

JOANNE WILCOCK, DAWN ROBINSON-WALSH