Sir, – You report that Hambleton council is “boosting its help for businesses during the recession”

by paying invoices within 20 working days, “cutting the waiting time by ten days” (D&S, May 1).

Why should it take it four weeks to pay a bill, let alone six weeks? If it can do this now, then why has it not done it before?

Given this is said to be help during the recession, does that mean that when the recession is over it will revert to its former even lower standards?

Surely, out of common courtesy, recession or not, the council’s policy should be to pay all invoices as quickly as possible.

Taking four weeks is nothing to brag about.

You gave the item the heading “Council will pay its bills faster to help firms”. Surely it should have been “Council will pay its bills a little less slowly”?

D F SEVERS Trinity Gardens, Northallerton.