I love living in Brighton and have done so for the past 20 years. For the past few years I have also been working in London, so I get to contrast and compare the two cities.

Brighton wins on most points, but what I can’t understand is why we pay council tax in Brighton and Hove that can be £500 per year more than a similar band in a London borough council.

I am lucky in the sense that I get a London wage, but how can Brighton and Hove City Council justify such large bills in a city where most people earn salaries at or below the national average?

Since I do pay a council tax rate well above the national average, it doesn’t seem unreasonable for me to expect to get something out of it. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

As a resident of Patcham with a two-year-old baby, it is very noticeable that the only childrens’ play area within walking distance is in a completely disgraceful state. There is glass in the sandpit and all kinds of graffiti on the slide. The whole thing is falling apart.

If I lived in the Preston Park area I would have benefited from having an already perfectly good play area redesigned this year. And, as I drive in to Preston Park along the London Road so that my child can play safely, I go past a new electronic device that tells me how many cyclists have ridden past.

I then go on to pay for parking in an area desolate of cars. What kind of city am I living in where I am paying more money for fewer services to a council that appears to be completely unnaccountable?

Nick Brack
Church Hill, Brighton