On January 24 my house received a City of York Council "budget special" questionnaire, which had to be returned by January 25.

What a shame this good idea was spoilt by not giving me, and I suspect, thousands of other York residents enough time to properly consider all the options and vote accordingly.

I would have liked the chance to add other items and ideas for money saving and money allocation by our council.

I would also love to know whether the council have already made up their minds as to where OUR money will or will not be spent, regardless of the answers they receive in this " document of democracy".

I was very surprised to learn (be told) that we have one of the lowest levels of council tax in this country - if this is true, I feel sorry for other areas.

Was the delay in getting these questionnaires out to our homes similar to the "errors", forgetfulness, incompetance and "oversight" that Peter Hain suffered from?

David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

  • How many York households received the council's budget special in time to return the attached questionnaire by the required date of January 25?

Our copy, and presumably many others, arrived on January 27. This makes the exercise a pointless waste of money and paper.

Kate Kirman, Pulleyn Drive, York.

A City of York Council spokeswoman, said: "We recognise that there have been some problems with the distribution of the leaflets and we apologise to anyone who has not received the consultation document.

"We have extended the deadline of the consultation until today to allow everyone the opportunity to respond, as publicised, and will continue to evaulate responses received immediately following the deadline.

"We would recommend that anyone who has not received a leaflet completes the consultation online at www.york.gov.uk. Free internet access is available at York's libraries."