DRIVE or cycle through any French town, of similar size to our own, and la Mairie, the town hall, is a prestigious building with a sizeable staff.

By contrast, with no thanks to Mid Devon District Council, Crediton has been robbed of even our very modest Council Offices.

In these austere times several community groups have had space in that building, with a small grant from our Town Council, to stop-gap what isn’t being done elsewhere.

However, what I most care about is the sapping of morale among our Town Councillors. The Mayor gets an “honorarium” but no-one could call it proper pay, while other councillors get nothing.

They receive a stream of emails each day and have to come prepared for meetings.

I don’t agree with all of them, but they work hard and, together with our Town Clerk and her team, they keep Crediton special, despite everything.

We must value and support them, even without a building.

Laura Conyngham

Old Tiverton Road

Crediton