IT may be all of six years since Peter Johnston had any “direct involvement in the affairs of Bolton Council” — by which I expect he means it is six years since he failed to be elected — but that is difficult to detect in the manner of his writing, when he sprang to the defence of councillors when one of your correspondents had the temerity to query their expenses.

I personally do not have a problem with the reimbursement of monies properly expended on council business. However, I do have a problem when ex-Cllr Johnston describes being a councillor as a “job” (October 29).

Surely, those who seek election to the council do so because they feel they have something to offer the borough and not because they wish to secure a second income. Or am I being naive?

In the same issue of The Bolton News, there was a report of how the council is going to save £100,000 by reducing the number of gritting lorries. However, one has to wonder whether the same sum might be saved by a reduction in the cost of, if a councillor’s role is a job, the salary which comes with it?

I suppose this would be a salary review which the council staff have undergone recently. Or am I being naive again?

Ernest Goodyear, Albert Road West, Heaton