There are over 20,000 people living in Falmouth and up to 7,000 students, at the moment, but each year from this September to 2010 we will have 5,200 more, plus Dartington College, which is 900 students. If these figures are correct, who is going to pay?

Out of our council tax, the government gives Europe billions of pounds which we get back in the ruse of Objective One money which pays for things. Nice, but so far most of that money has gone on an education programme for getting kids into college. Which in turn has made our lives hell.

Why should we have to pay for this programme when all we are getting is abuse from these so-called students, in Falmouth from Monday to Sunday? At night, there is a bunch of yobs who are causing so many problems for our residents.

These yobs can't see that they are upsetting their own students. You know, the ones who really want to get on in life and get the job of their dreams. Those are the ones I feel sorry for, but since Tremough has been up and running all we get are these adults who are so hell bent in destroying someone else's life style.

Every weekend from the start of term we have had nothing but trouble from these people. They have the cheek to keep saying "we are students and this is what students do." So, does that give them the right to scream and shout, and enter other people's property, and take what they want, and destroy the place they are living at, or throw bottles and cans, and urinate everywhere? They hold parties that escalate onto the streets and sometimes end up in a fight to all hours of the night.

Why should we in the Arwenack ward have to pay a service fee to the council when these people get it free? And why should we have to pay council tax when these people get it free, but are allowed to cause as much trouble as they like?

The students are up in arms over this £3,000 top-up fee. Why should they be upset, when we, Joe Public, are forced to pay for their education whether we like it or not? Yes, they should pay, but not to the universities or colleges, but to the council where they are living. The landlords should also pay a fee towards the services, as they are exempt from paying anything only because they are taking in students.

The students each get a letter about bringing their transport to Falmouth, as everything is laid on for them, so why should they clutter up our streets with cars which are stuck to the roads and are a prime target for other yobs to break into? Then they have the cheek to complain, but they don't shout or scream when they are doing the same thing to our cars in our streets, do they?

Jeff and I walk the streets as the Neighbourhood Respect Team, but I can honestly say there is no respect from these students who live in the Arwenack area of Falmouth, as we are always told this is their town and they will do what they like and nothing will stop them. So if that is the case, then we don't need to have them in town, so send them home and let them play the fool outside their mothers' houses.

Falmouth people are getting so fed up with this behaviour that it won't be long before we are going to have a full time war on our hands. Falmouth residents are getting fed up with paying for the privilege of living in their own town. What I would like to see is more people taking to the streets in teams to do what Jeff and I do, and bring back respect to our streets.

How many of you have gone and found out that to rent a place of your own the answer is "sorry I only rent to students"? This is happening in the Arwenack area, and we in the Arwenack area are living in a ghetto for students and the private investor, and none care about you or I so long as we pay.

So what are we to do? I know that in a few years we will be run out of town unless we the public start to change the workings of the council. As Ruth Kelly says in the White paper, they have to ask us what we want, not the other way round, and hopefully we will get more power back into Falmouth and the next lot of new councillors will stop the rape of Falmouth. Falmouth belongs to you and me, not the students or private investors. When they are gone, we are left with the clean-up but it is you who have to pay, not these people.

Elections are coming, so this is the time when we can get rid of those who care nothing for our town.

Diana Merritt, Trelawny Road, Falmouth