FURTHER to the letter headed ‘soft on criminals’, (Mailbag, August 16), probation clearly has work to do to inform the public about how it delivers tough community sentences that challenge offenders to change their behaviour.
Our job is to work with people to become contributing and law abiding citizens within their communities. Our highly skilled staff deal with very difficult people and change does not happen overnight.
In Kirklees we have had considerable success in reducing re-offending. To achieve this, we employ a wide range of tactics, including working with others (police, courts, prisons, health services, and the local authority) to tackle issues underlying offending, eg, drug/alcohol abuse, literacy issues and lack of employment skills.
We also ensure that those who do not wish to work with us are closely monitored by the police, returned to court or recalled to prison.
We are further intensifying Community Payback orders to ensure they start within 48 hours of sentence and, where appropriate, offenders work a minimum of 28 hours a week. In just three months this year, 185 offenders completed 20,311 hours of unpaid work in Kirklees, paying back £120,440 to the community. Work has included removing graffiti, clearing fly tipping and clearing ginnels.
This work has benefited many local organisations, including Whitechapel Church, Marsden Royal British Legion and the Foldings Estate.
We will continue to effectively combine punishment and rehabilitation to protect the public and ensure that the reoffending rate in Kirklees continues to decrease.
Kathy Loney
Head of Kirklees Probation
Pavement cyclists
CONCERNED of New Hey Road expressed his thoughts on the use of pavements by cyclists (Mailbag, August 27).
I agree with his argument that tearaway children on bicycles are a menace. However, it would be wrong of him to condemn responsible cyclists who do use pavements safely.
Despite a few ‘painted on’ cycle lanes, the roads in and around Huddersfield are not good for the bicycle. New Hey Road is a perfect example, being littered with life threatening hazards such as those absurd jutting out curbs, whose primary function appears to be to kill cyclists.
Whilst technically not allowed, negotiating complex, cycle unfriendly junctions it is possible to safely use a pedestrian free pavement to assist the overall flow of traffic and to remove oneself from a potentially dangerous situation.
Let’s not forget that the biggest danger to pedestrian and cyclist alike is the motorist, who is often trying to get somewhere in frustrated haste whilst yapping away on a mobile phone.
Let’s also acknowledge that the bicycle is generally a good thing – although it’s a shame that more people don’t use them.
Uncle Grumpy
Golcar
Town Hall architect
I READ with interest the article on the Town Hall’s 130 years.
Just to set the records straight, the Town Hall was not designed by Abbey and Hanson but by John Henry Abbey when he was Borough surveyor, having resigned from Abbey and Hansons in 1868 some 13 years before the completion of the Town Hall.
Sadly he retired and died in 1879, two years before its completion.
While the Town Hall is a fine building, there is discomfort in sitting in the balcony or gallery.
But then John H Abbey could not have foreseen that we would lengthen by a couple of inches over the next 130 years!
J Firth
Almondbury
Trolley folly
LAST week I did my shopping at the local Tesco supermarket. It was raining but the trolleys were dry. However, more than one customer immediately picked up their child and stood them in the trolley.
In one trolley being pushed round the store a child was standing up in it and water was dripping from his shoes.
I pointed this out to one of the staff and said that this was most unhygienic. The trolley would have to be used by another customer who might put cheese butter etc into it which was obviously unhealthy.
I asked if the staff could perhaps put a sign up or say something to the customer to stop them standing their children in the trolleys.
The reply was that they couldn’t do that as it might upset the customer.
Shoppers beware.
Clr Christine Smith
Kirkburton Ward
The state of Holmfirth
I AM at a loss to where Shaun Dundon (Mailbag, August 26) gets his information on the state of Holmfirth, but I can only presume he has not visited the town.
Holmfirth town centre does have a few empty shops but the vacancy rate is less than half the national average, as it was before Tesco applied to build a superstore well out of the centre (on a site that actually falls into the village of Wooldale, not Holmfirth).
Also, if he followed the news he would know that over 10% of town centre shops are now vacant, and the Government has launched a task force, headed by Mary Portas, to examine the issue.
Yvonne Radcliffe is correct in her letter of the same date saying that we should be looking for incentives for people to set up shop in Holmfirth and elsewhere.
Her recommendation is very similar to one of Keep Holmfirth Special’s recommendations to the Portas Review.
We recommended that town centre business rates are radically reduced, and an extra tax imposed upon out of centre retail developments.
This would both make it easier to open and keep running a town centre shop, and encourage supermarkets back into town centres or adjacent to town centres, where they can support as well as compete with the centre.
From my recollection some big retailers have always argued against this proposal, claiming it will stop them creating jobs, but the number of jobs in retail is dependent upon the spending money in people’s pockets, not how many superstores are built, hence their argument in my opinion is redundant.
With 10% of the nation’s town centre shops now empty surely it is time for action.
Dominic Stankiewicz
Keep Holmfirth Special
Caravan in tow
WITH the holiday and caravan towing season in full flow it is apparent that the number of accidents involving caravans is once again on the increase.
This will be due in no small degree to the lack of experience some of these drivers have, especially towing trailers.
Some of these drivers will no doubt be unaware of the following facts and be towing their trailers illegally, possibly invalidating their insurance and becoming a risk to other road users Šand their selves.
All drivers who passed a car test after January 1, 1997 are not automatically entitled to tow a trailer and are required to take an additional test to do so.
All drivers who passed a car test before January 1, 1997 retain their existing entitlement to tow trailers until their licence expires.
This means they are generally entitled to drive a vehicle and trailer combination up to 8.25 tonnes maximum authorised mass (MAM).
Details can be found at http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialVehicles/DG_4022564
David Townend
Linthwaite
‘Positive’ discrimination
I AM deeply concerned that boys have now slipped further behind girls in their GCSE results, by a wicked 6.7%.Š
The highest ever.
I am pushing, therefore, for a new EU directive to enhance all boys’ exam results by 5% to redress this imbalance by ‘positive’ discrimination.
Godfrey Bloom MEP,
Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire
