Letters, for March 2

Mar 2 2010 by Sarah Bull, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THERE is much conjecture from the experts to assess whether or not the country is out of recession.

Well, for the jobless searching fruitlessly for work or the council worker with a much diminished pay packet, the recession is still very real.

The recent debate about the economy focused locally on the cuts in council services and has asked the question where should the money come from to pay for the huge national debt.

Believe me the money is there. The BBC has reported that Barclays profits for 2009 exceeded £11.6bn. They paid £2.7bn to staff in bonuses. Goldman Sachs made £10.3bn, and Morgan Stanley has shared out £9bn in bonuses to senior staff.

If the Government could nationalise the failing banks of Northern Rock and RBS to bail them out then it can surely nationalise the profitable banks using their vast wealth to bridge the gap in national financing.

The time has come to make overpaid bankers less of a priority than the old, the disabled, the vulnerable, our roads, transport and services that ordinary people need.

Ian Brooke

Save our Services

Value for money

I NOTE from our excellent local paper we are asked to pay a 2% increase in council tax.

I agree it should help the needy and be used for health and safety of the Kirklees public – but are we going to get more value for the increase?

Are we going to continue to see people slipping on ungritted roads, and accidents due to lack of services? Or have bins emptied once a fortnight, which isn’t good enough as I’ve pointed out in previous letters.

I do know many people are unhappy with this.

Calderdale have a service equal to our own and they have given council tax payers a reduction. So I hope Kirklees are giving us value for our money as many people are very unhappy with their lack of service.

colin vause

Marsh

No politics in planning

I FEEL I must reply to the remarks by Clr David Ridgway on the Lindley Moor Planning application, (Examiner February 24). Clr Ridgway criticises the Conservatives for supporting the proposal.

Planning committees are not ‘political’. They are quasi-judicial and councillors have to reach a balanced judgement on each and every application that comes before them.

After a two-hour debate it was clear that there were no valid reasons for refusing this application.

The area had been in the Unitary Development Plan for many years, designated as light industrial and housing.

No political party had taken the area out of the UDP and it cannot now be put back into ‘green belt’. It was proposed acceptance by the chair of the committee Clr Linda Wilkinson (Lib Dem, Almondbury) and seconded by Clr Molly Walton (Labour, Crosland Moor and Netherton). Two Liberal Democrats voted for, two Conservatives and five Labour. The second Liberal Democrat was Clr Rochelle Parchment (Dalton).

If as Clr Ridgway suggests, the Conservatives cannot be trusted to defend Lindley Moor, then neither can the Liberal Democrats.

I am truly amazed and ashamed at the way in which the Liberal Democrats are now trying to blame the Conservatives and everyone else for this decision when Clr Ridgway’s party knew all along that there were no valid reasons for refusing this application.

To now start playing party politics when an election is just weeks away and criticising councillors who had to make this decision is in my opinion unworthy and out of order.

No one has fought harder than Lindley Clr Tony Brice and the parliamentary candidate for Colne Valley Jason McCartney on this issue and they are to be applauded for their stance, but at the end of the day it was left to the councillors who were on the Planning Committee to vote honestly and with integrity and on merit. If that is not done, then democracy is lost.

Clr Christine Smith

Kirkburton Ward

How I voted

MAYBE Clr Ridgway should make sure his comments are correct before making public announcements to the local press.

As he knows, I voted against the proposal after making an unbiased judgement taking all the facts into consideration.

Clr Beryl Smith

Conservative, Holme Valley North

Lack of imagination

I FIND the recently passed plan on Lindley Moor development a matter of concern.

I am aware that over the years various other plans of a residential or industrial nature have been submitted, and rejected due to local opposition and consideration by government inspectors.

That yet another plan has been submitted, this time a data campus, seems indicative more of a stubbornness to build on this site regardless of what the use is. Why?

To me it does not seem essential for such industries to be built on greenfield sites, nor is it essential for them to be located alongside the M62.

The latter seems to have become an automatic request. However it is clear that the M62 is already saturated with vehicles at peak times, and that the sheer volume of traffic joining added to any incidents can create major queues with considerable time lost.

I would suggest that the future does not lie in locating alongside the M62.

Instead I would propose that serious attention is given to promoting the development of rail transport along the Colne Valley, and encouraging firms to locate on existing brownfield sites.

If the intention is to create more local jobs, then access locally can be by rail, bus or car. If more distant commutes are required then rail or bus transport in conjunction with park and ride schemes could be used.

As to those councillors who are convinced of the merits of the Lindley Moor plan, with its limited number of permanent jobs and rather more short term temporary jobs in the construction phase, could they in future think ‘outside the box’, and as with many issues in Kirklees try to make more imaginative decisions?

I do not presume to have the answers, but it would be reassuring to feel that those who put themselves up for office and take on the decision-making process, do approach issues in an imaginative way.

If their answer is one which constantly nibbles away at greenfield sites, then ultimately Huddersfield will at some time in the future resemble Sheffield with its hills swathed in buildings.

Disillusioned

Brockholes

Cash and carry

IN response to your article (Loo-sing out, February 23) don’t Metro realise that they are putting their drivers in a vulnerable position by having the drivers collect their cash and belongings to carry them all the way to the toilets?

They are carrying a lot of money into public toilets, where they can be attacked and their cash taken.

And where do they put that cash bag when they are in the toilet?

Years ago there used to be separate toilets for drivers. They have gone. I have been informed by my husband that there are only three or four cubicles in the men’s toilets. They don’t have time to wait about.

Thank you to the 61.1% who voted ‘no’ in the Examiner poll.

The drivers are not going to be that long away from their buses.

Why don’t Metro get two portable loos and put them in the corner of the back wall for drivers’ convenience and safety? It isn’t as if they can’t afford it.

Besides, if drivers are delayed due to traffic and are in a rush for the loo, having to collect their cash and belongings would make them even later. That would see people getting angry, because the bus is very late. The drivers are on the bus for a very long time.

bus driver’s wife

Huddersfield

Charity appeal

RE the urgent appeal (Examiner, February 27) to help a charity stock its shop in Holmfirth – with five charity shops in Holmfirth, that’s a lot of charity to keep stocked.

Mick armitage

Holmfirth

Crime and punishment

ONCE again the Huddersfield community is saddened and shocked at the brutal and unnecessary death of another defenceless victim, Mr Singh.Š

The mindless people who committed this hideous crime will be caught and sentenced, but it’s likely their sentences will be unaffected by our sense of outrage.

This will have no effect on the judiciary.

How many who have committed similar crimes spend 12 or 15 years in accommodation which provides TV, computers,Šgym, library, and let’s not forget the psychologist trying to find a reason for the offence.

If the public had a say they would be locked up and the key thrown away.

They would never walk among us again. With the alarming rise in violent crimes why shouldŠ we Šhave toŠ live in fear forŠ the safety ofŠ our Šloved ones?Š

Until there is a realŠ deterrent the threat to us all will increase.

S G

Holmfirth