AS a West Devon councillor from Tavistock I offer sincere apologies to the New Forest tourist who wrote to you last week to complain about our car parking charges.

My wife and I enjoyed a pleasant holiday in the New Forest not long ago and hope to go there again soon.

Apart form the great size of the ponies there compared to our Dartmoor breed, our overwhelming impression was of the prosperity of the residents and the area as a whole. West Devon is not so fortunate; incomes are comparatively low down here and our population is small and scattered .

Ours must be one of the poorest councils in the country; our council taxes are nothing like enough to fund the services we provide. Contrary to the suggestion made by your correspondent, business rates do not pay our costs; we collect them for central government and receive only a portion of them back calculated on our pretty low population figure. This Government has been reducing the size of its grants to us while simultaneously imposing new burdens and expensive bureaucracy on us. But we still manage to balance our budget with a contribution from our car park users.

Last year, some of us insisted on a thorough analysis and full discussion of car park charges. It emerged in general our fees are very much the average in Devon and Cornwall market towns. Then again, if you have free town centre parking, car parks rapidly fill with vehicles belonging to people working in the town, leaving no room for shoppers and visitors.

So we have tried to strike a fair balance between the interests of tax payers and car drivers, and of business-people, shoppers, tourists and, of course, local residents who too often see the spaces outside their front windows permanently blocked by other people's cars.

We may not have got the balance quite right yet; we have asked for expert advice this autumn on the best longer term arrangements.

I am determined to have another go at finding more acceptable solutions, but it will not be easy. And if any of your readers care to offer me answers against this background, I should welcome their views.

Cllr Dick Eberlie

Vigo Mews

Tavistock