SIR – Councillor David Green asks us where we think cuts in services should be made (T&A, September 12).

The T&A details that the ones with the biggest expenses cost a total £398m, so the cut to achieve the required saving of £38m is slightly less than ten per cent.

Perhaps we should look at the problem from a different angle and not cut services, but the amount that the Council pays for those services.

The widespread belief that the Council pays over the odds for services may be apocryphal,but it should be tested by consultants, solicitors, service providers and contractors being asked to share in the financial predicament by accepting a 90 per cent payment.

This is not new, for in textiles it was common practice for large purchasers to ask suppliers for a price reduction to even out the effect of a market downturn.

The Council’s financial policy must also be balanced by a ten per cent reduction in the salary package of all those employees paid in excess of £80k.

Better days will come eventually, and those who value the Council’s business and salaries should have the foresight to realise that it is not in their long-term interest to maintain the degree of their profit or reward at the expense of the underprivileged members of our society.

John Pashley, Westcliffe Avenue, Baildon