Worthing Borough Council slipped a teeny, dozen-word paragraph on to the bottom of the council tax bill I received this morning.

It informed me that "The council has decided to discontinue the (50 per cent) discount on empty properties" as if this would be of as much interest as a decision not to print on coloured paper any more.

Not so. If the flat for which I have so far over the last year had three sales fall through still doesn't sell, this will cost me £526.68 for the coming year.

Putting aside my own circumstances for a moment and looking at this matter logically, surely council tax is sold to us as the means by which residents pay for local amenities.

The property in question is empty. There is no one using the local amenities. There is no one to use the schools, hospitals, library, leave rubbish or walk along lit streets.

This property sits there, happily, asking nothing of anyone but to be left alone.

Until now, since the property has been empty, I have paid 50 per cent of the full council tax for this privilege and I can give some credence to the claim that the roads surrounding the property were still being kept weed and rubbish free (relatively), thereby allowing unimpeded access and that this needed paying for.

But how can the council justify charging the same as a four person household when none of the other services can in their wildest imaginings ever possibly be taken advantage of?

I rang Worthing Borough Council to voice my outrage and seek their justification and their first explanation was purely and simply that

"We are allowed to now - the Government recently gave us permission to make our own decision as to whether we offer a discount or not".

Well, no doubt they are "allowed" to charge £1,000 a ticket to park within a five mile radius of the town centre but they'd have a job justifying it.

Judy Coleman

-Hop Garden, Fleet