Just where is all our council tax cash going?

I LIVE in south Manchester and my plan was to write a letter to complain about the ill repair of the local roads and pavements and the general impression of decay in the area.

Then it occurred to me that in these days of austerity and foundering NHS, perhaps there are more important causes that need investment.

But, hang on, the upkeep of our local byways and footpaths is surely the responsibility of the local council, and therefore budgeted for within our council tax payments, isn’t it?

Take Chorlton, for example. It has some of the highest property prices in Manchester, and therefore, I suppose, some of the highest council tax tariffs.

Yet you walk down a street where the average house price is at least £350k, and the potholes in the road, coupled with the much excavated, badly repaired pavements, give the place an air of decline and destitution. And it’s not just aesthetic.

The uneven pavements are treacherous, especially in winter when the mulch, from the unswept autumnal fall, makes them nigh on impossible to navigate.

So, what’s happening to our council tax? The local council must be receiving more every year as house prices rise and properties move up through the bands. Not to mention the yearly inflation increase.

Meanwhile, our streets fall into ever greater disrepair, requiring ever more investment to fix them, a bigger job as every day goes by.

Where is all the money going? Paul Rankin, Chorlton