I'M happy to help the leaders of the Osbaldwick Parish Council (Letters, April 7). Their newsletter, which was funded by local taxpayers, questioned the policy being advanced by a local politician.

The council will no doubt have considered the Parish Councils (model code of conduct) Order 2001 (statutory instrument 2001 No. 3576) together with the Local Government Act 1986.

The code covers restrictions on the use of council resources to promote or oppose particular policies. It also requires parish councillors (in common with those on other councils) to declare any interests they may have.

These are recorded on a publicly-available register and must also be recorded in the minutes of meetings when relevant issues are discussed.

The Act refers to the prohibition of the "publication of material which promotes or opposes a point of view on a question of political controversy".

To put the matter into context, we might wonder how Osbaldwick parish councillors would feel if the local community's confidence in them was questioned in an edition of York council's Your Ward publication.

Your other correspondent, Labour's Sandy Fraser, is not one to allow a bandwagon to rattle by without attempting to hitch a ride. Sandy has brought a refreshing sense of paranoia to the council chamber since his election a couple of years ago.

However, his conclusion that, having conducted an opinion poll on council tax options, we should apparently not tell residents what the results were, suggests a unique - if somewhat eccentric - approach to consultation.

Nine per cent of the tax poll forms were completed - one of the largest response rates to a council consultation exercise and one which two-thirds of respondents felt should be repeated before decisions on next year's budget.

Coun Steve Galloway,

Leader, City of York Council,

Stirrup Close,

York.

Updated: 10:41 Monday, April 11, 2005