IAN Woolley (Letters, April 2) wonders why Council Tax rises are above the rate of inflation. The answer is that Council Tax finances only one pound in every six that the council spends. The other £5 comes in various ways from central government.

The result of this situation is that each £1 reduction in finance from central government requires a £6 increase in Council Tax for the council just to stand still financially.

This year, central government has placed additional responsibilities and costs on local councils, but has not given councils enough money to cover these additional responsibilities and costs.

This has resulted in an average rise in Council Tax across England and Wales of 12.9 per cent. In that context, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has done well to keep its Council Tax rise down to 8.9 per cent although I doubt that will make people feel very much better.

Governments of various political persuasions have used this approach to keep national tax rates down whilst passing costs on to local councils. They hope that the complexities of local government finance will mean that people blame local councils for all Council Tax rises, not central government. As Mr Woolley's letter aptly demonstrates, in many cases they are right.

Councillor DAVE HOLLINGS (Sunnyhurst Ward), Sudell Road, Darwen.