Letters, November 17, 2010
Nov 17 2010 by Sarah Bull, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
AT what point does a planning department define an area as having reached ‘saturation point’ and close the door to any more planning application approvals?
I refer specifically to the back streets of Honley village, which could now easily qualify for the Guinness Book of Records status as the most challenging to negotiate in the UK, either on foot or in a car.
Readers will be familiar with attempts to see how many people can be squeezed into a mini car – but do they know about the attempts to squeeze in as many buildings and people as physically possible into this Golden (mini) Mile of planning gaffes which dates back many years?
However, being an eternal optimist, I have spotted a real plus point in all this. The haulage firm that negotiates the narrow streets, performing manoeuvres with heavy goods vehicles that would make Evil Knievel proud, is going to relocate and planning permission has already been granted for 14 houses on the site which means this new metropolis will definitely make it into next year’s edition!
Combined with the latest planning applications, I suggest that the sheer magnitude of such building work will ensure Honley’s future as a World Heritage Site.
Countless generations to come will all ask ‘How did they do that?’ We all know the question should not be ‘how’ but ‘why?’
G Ridlock
Honley
Burning poppies
REPORTEDLY, a small group of Muslims burned a poppy wreath on Armistice Day in protest at recent British military engagements. May I make some points to anyone who is of like mind?
Firstly, the Poppy Appeal is not connected to government. It is organised by the Royal British Legion, a non-political organisation which provides welfare support for wounded personnel and the widows or dependants of those killed.
The Legion does not discriminate on ethnic or religious grounds when performing its functions.
Secondly, it is plain fact that significant numbers of Asian and African troops served the British cause in both World Wars. Many of these were Muslim.
Thirdly, from World War One up until the 1960s many troops were conscripts. They had little option but to serve when ordered to.
I have no objection to people mounting an orderly protest against issues which they feel strongly about, but they should pick the right target for protest.
Politicians start wars, the armed forces have to deal with the consequences. By all means demonstrate against politicians, but leave the Forces out of it.
The red poppy is a potent symbol of remembrance of sacrifice and service – it has no political meaning, nor does it signify support for war.
Bill Armer
Deighton
Society’s dilemma
THE story about underage sex offences in respect of three girls and a boy from Dalton (Examiner, November 9) raises lots of questions.
The judge said she was ‘treating the case as consensual sex’. Why then, were the girls not also in the dock? Is consensual under age sex only a male offence?
And is a public court case followed by publicity really the best way to deal with it?
Of course, you cannot make any sort of judgement from brief newspaper reports. Whatever the truth may be about this case it highlights a fundamental dilemma in society. For example, a brief web search reveals an outraged mother whose eight-year-old daughter was offered condoms at tax payers’ expense.
An aberration, no doubt, but in Hull they do offer these, without parental involvement or knowledge, to 13-year-olds in an attempt to reduce teenage pregnancy and disease. Do they do that here?
In some areas girls can count on being given the ‘morning after’ pill by the modern version of Nitty Nora. How, does anyone suppose, is this likely to affect their behaviour?
From the media we gain the impression that the only advice ‘authority’ dare offer is ‘practice safe sex’. Every other pop song seems to be overtly about sex. TV adverts use sex to sell anything and everything, to say nothing of the girlie magazines for early teens. What are kids supposed to think?
When traditional and religious standards of every faith are ignored and generally mocked, what exactly do we expect of our children as they grow through puberty in a secular and licentious society?
Parents do their best to inculcate their values and offer sage advice but teenagers are natural rebels. The moral environment of society is changing rapidly with more emphasis being placed on personal freedom and lack of restraint, and rather less on duty and discipline.
When the young are left to set their own standards of behaviour we should not be surprised if their ideas diverge somewhat from our own.
Of course every generation is shocked by the behaviour of the next and also astonished that kids manage to grow up so well whilst completely ignoring any advice – though not in every case, by any means.
In sexual matters there are a myriad of standards. Advising youngsters to practice ‘safe sex’, giving them contraceptives at 13, but then punishing them for putting this advice into practice seems to me to be quixotic in the extreme.
Mark Mercer
Golcar
Motoring vandals
THE Town End area of Golcar was recently improved with new pavements and kerbs.
This was not some half-baked, half-funded botched affair designed to attract more criticism of our local authority – oh no, this was a job well done, beautifully cut and finished local sandstone, expertly and painstakingly lain.
Kirklees, their contractors and suppliers all deserve credit.
Unfortunately, there are a few lazy drivers who care little about all this craftsmanship, who drive their cars into and over the pavements as they carelessly park before heading into the Co-op.
The kerbsides are already blackened with tyre rubber. Chips and cracks will appear next, eventually becoming broken and loose.
I suggest that Kirklees doesn’t waste any more money on trying to smarten up places like Town End where selfish motorists are rapidly undoing all the good work.
Maybe one day some provision for parking bicycles will be made. Presently there is none.
Uncle Grumpy
Golcar
Taxi free zone
IN his letter to Mailbag (November 9) Joe Marsden gave his opinion that ‘the bottom line is without the taxi firms and drivers, this great town of ours would grind to a halt.’
I am of the opinion that if all taxis were taken off the streets of Huddersfield it would free up one thirdŠ of road space, one third of parking places at the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and one third of pavements ((no more taxis parked on them).
This would create a much safer town for pedestrians and make St George’s Square a much more pleasant place to alight from the railway station.
Bryan Spencer
Crosland Moor
Together we fall
NO matter how parlous the state of the bank in question and its indebtedness to the tax payer, the bonus culture still thrives for the top dogs, while thousands of jobs are culled on the shop floor.
MPs of all shades are advocating massive job losses in the public sector to cut costs, which will have a knock-on effect in the private sector.
The idle rich are telling the idle poor to get a job or lose their benefits.
Nearer to home, Kirklees council is paying huge sums to recruit top people to facilitate the squandering of our taxes on madcap schemes such as cable cars and unnecessary changes to St George’s Square.
But the latest one takes the biscuit – sending councillors and council officers to the edge of the known universe (Manchester) at a cost of £4,000.
This trip seemed to be to find a way to cut costs and jobs in youth services plus many other jobs within the local authority.
The hackneyed phrase of all of the above is we are all in this together, but some are in it deeper than others.
Edward Livingstone
Newsome
What, no jobs?
I WAS made redundant and was out of work for three weeks, with everybody saying there would be no work.
How wrong can they be? I went on line, looking at gov.jobs and job.uk and about four more sites, which regularly updated me with job opportunities.
In the end had a choice of six jobs to pick from. People who say there is no work should go on line.
Christopher
Dalton
