To add to Mr Bernard C.G. Law’s suggestion to have a competition in maintenance among town councils (Town councils and residents must aim for happier living spaces, Jan 17), I propose that service and conservancy charges (S&CC) be dependent on how clean residents keep their estate.

After all, if a town council spends less to clean a precinct because it is better looked after by its residents in ways such as having less litter, shouldn’t those residents get a discount on S&CC? This would in turn motivate other residents to keep their precinct clean to earn their own discount.

We should explore this and other ways to give residents a stake in the running of their estate.

Lau Wai Kwok