Sir – I am annoyed about the lack of support which the so-called public servants of this country give to small charities such as our village primary school Parents Association. The parents in our school, as in most schools in the country, help out in

Sir - I am annoyed about the lack of support which the so-called public servants of this country give to small charities such as our village primary school Parents' Association.

The parents in our school, as in most schools in the country, help out in class, run the library, fundraise and care for the school swimming pool, help with gardening in the grounds and other DIY projects and continually fundraise to provide equipment that will benefit our children which the school funds do not cover.

Our current project is to replace the aging wooden apparatus in our playground which is surely in line with Government initiatives to keep children active.

All PAs now have to manoeuvre within increasingly strict health and safety requirements so it is irritating, to say the least, to encounter problems with licensing our fundraising events too.

As treasurer of Tewin Village School's Parent's Association, I raised these points in a letter to Oliver Heald MP, from which I quote...

'I am very annoyed about how little support we get from the current Government.

'Since I became treasurer four years ago, the cost of applying for the Temporary Event Notice which we need for nearly every event we organise has gone from £10 to £21. Under the old licensing system your £10 would cover two events if you applied at the same time. Also the time involved in applying (except for the initial court visit under the old scheme) has changed from filling in one A4 sheet to filling in five A4 sheets and sending them to two different places (the council and the police).

'I recently applied for two TENS together. I subsequently received notification in two separate envelopes that my first request was rejected as it was two working days late in arriving, while the other, in the same length of time, has been approved.

I realise that I should send in my applications on time in the future, but surely as we only hold small events within the school property which have never caused the authorities any previous concern and which are raising money towards projects at the school, we could have received a little leeway this time.

'Perhaps under a Conservative government we might see some of the red tape and bureaucracy being cut back to allow the use of common sense once more. After all, our current project to replace the aging playground apparatus at our school is surely one that the government is supposed to be promoting.'

Mrs Hazel Lee, Upper Green Road, Tewin.

Making us pay twice

Open letter to Welwyn Hatfield Council, in response to their proposal to charge for planning advice.

DEAR do-what-we-like council - Can someone please tell me why we as taxpayers, who YOU work for, are paying for a council to provide a service which suddenly you decide we should pay again for? And isn't it amazing how when YOU want to, you can implement this within three to four weeks because it means more money for you??

Were the public told of this meeting? A two-hour consultation costing £1,000! A top barrister would be cheaper.

First it's the trees, now planning, £20,000 on a boat sat on a roundabout. You lot make the taxpayer sick.

B Bridgeman, Lemsford.