The letter from Stoneleigh Residents' Association (March 22) attacking the county and me over Nonsuch Mansion again misses the point completely.

Their assumption seems to be that we should all simply pay more council tax to keep a significant part of the building empty and decaying. Most people I talk to locally think their council tax is high enough already after years of Gordon Brown using it as the ultimate stealth tax. This year Surrey will lose another £12 million from the funding it gets from the Government to maintain school buildings. Just another example of the intense pressure on local funding and taxes.

The mansion is a prime building in a magnificent location. Yet significant parts of it remain empty and deteriorating. Surely we can do better? Why can't the upstairs rooms, for example, be used as offices for local small businesses or rented out as flats for key workers?

Nonsuch Mansion is an important local landmark. I have been given an absolute assurance from Surrey about its future. There are no plans to do to Nonsuch what Epsom and Ewell Borough Council tried to do to Ewell Court House.

But it's not good enough to ask pensioners in Stoneleigh to pay higher taxes to fund the upkeep of a part empty building without looking for a better way of doing things.

CHRIS GRAYLING MP Epsom and Ewell