One area in which it could certainly do better is in the provision of affordable homes for local people who, due to various pressures on the housing market, including the fact many houses in Whitby have been purchased by holiday home companies, and a few are used as second homes, are unable to purchase a house in the town of their birth.

The Government’s response to this problem has been to allow, since 2004, the local council – in this case Scarborough Borough Council – to reduce the discount on the council tax payable on second homes from 50% to 10%.

This measure was supposed to encourage the sale of second homes which in turn should have lowered the price of houses thus enabling local people to be able to afford to purchase a house.

The effect, in reality, is that few homes actually came onto the market, those that did were not priced at a level to suit first time buyers or those on a low or even average income.

The houses were, for the most part purchased by holiday home companies so are still unavailable to local people and the purchase price of houses remain at the same high levels as previously appertained.

In any case, this measure does not affect holiday homes which have been bought specifically to rent out to holidaymakers and are businesses and as such pay business rates, which surprisingly in some cases, are cheaper than the equivalent liability for council tax would be on the same property.

The other second homes which have not been affected by this measure are not unsurprisingly those second homes owned by our members of parliament, who as usual, have exempted themselves from this scheme.

As to the provision of affordable homes, since the reduced council tax discount was introduced, nearly five million pounds of extra council tax has been raised yet not one house has been built or bought to provide affordable housing for local people.

You have only to look in the windows of the local estate agents’ offices to see there are masses of houses for sale.

Why, especially at this time of falling house prices, is the council not using this money to purchase houses to provide local people with a house in Whitby at an affordable purchase price/rent?

No doubt the providers of this small fortune, which could have and should have been used to provide affordable housing, the much despised second home owners would also be interested to know how their money has been spent.

Richard Ineson, Church Street, Whitby