I READ with astonishment the article in your edition of March 29 regarding the proper payment for publicly funded facilities.

When I had the honour to be the Member for Lancaster, I never asked for free facilities to perform my parliamentary duties.

I held my interviews in our offices in what was then Middle Street and later Kings Arcade and when after 1983 a large part of Wyre was added to the Lancaster constituency, I held meetings in Garstang Community Centre, which was convenient for constituents and for which I paid.

Although at the time the expense allowance for MPs was considerably smaller than the current allowance, it certainly covered all such expenses.

If I wished to hold a function in the mayor's parlour at Lancaster Town Hall, I paid the going rate out of my own pocket.

MPs are adequately paid and their expense allowances are sufficient to allow them to dispatch their parliamentary duties without being a drain on the taxpayer or on local ratepayers.

Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman

Ampfield Romsey

Hampshire