SIR – I have just returned from Bournemouth, where the council is cutting the pay bill by ensuring that where grade creep has happened the person is returned to the correct pay scale. As pay scales are nationally agreed,I suggest that chief executives an

SIR - I have just returned from Bournemouth, where the council is cutting the pay bill by ensuring that where grade creep has happened the person is returned to the correct pay scale.

As pay scales are nationally agreed,I suggest that chief executives' and all other pay scales should be nationally agreed.

We are forever being told that the inflated pay of St Albans and of Hertfordshire top council executives is necessary because of high local property prices.

The demoted Bournemouth council workers will have a year on the higher scale so that they can adjust. Our chief executives could each buy a flat on the pay from another year on their present breathtaking salaries.

RICHARD DURRANT

Park Avenue

St Albans