I HAVE just been reading the article in Monday’s Examiner and am appalled that a handful of shopkeepers can hold a town to ransom.
Who do they think they are? I would like to know if any of these people do all their shopping in Holmfirth or do they go to supermarkets?
My guess is they do go to supermarkets which is double standards – OK to spoil other areas but must keep Holmfirth special!
I also read with interest – and I am sure someone at Tesco will have picked up on this too – that Longley’s shop had boarded their windows up in opposition to Tesco but Longley Farm don’t mind supplying Tesco and other supermarkets with their products. Another case of double standards.
We had the same scenario in Meltham when they were trying to get a supermarket built with the same reasons for opposing it but since Morrisons have taken ownership all the shops in Meltham are full.
The powers-that-be in Holmfirth should look at Morrisons and take into account the number of people – mums and students in particular – who have gained employment without having to spend a small fortune on travelling to and from work, but then again they probably don’t care as it seems to me they are only concerned with their own interests.
Have none of these people opposing Tesco stopped to think that maybe the free shuttle bus paid for by Tesco will enable people to park in the Tesco car park for three hours and come into Holmfirth to shop at the specialised shops?
At the end of the day, apart from the Co-op which is very expensive there isn’t anywhere for people to do a weekly shop.
In my opinion Morrisons should be more worried as all the people who come to Meltham from Holmfirth to do their shopping will probably go to Tesco when it opens.
At the end of the day I know a lot of people in Holmfirth and I haven’t spoken to one person who objects to the proposed Tesco.
Most of them can’t wait to have an affordable shopping venue locally and hopefully with the added bonus of a petrol station.
So the real question is, do we live in a democracy where majority rules?
Michael Armitage
Holmfirth
Slaithwaite wind turbines
I SEE the Valley Wind Group has submitted a planning application to put a weather monitoring mast on Slaithwaite Moor.
I am strongly in favour of this application. I think it is an excellent idea to erect this mast to find out more about the wind speed and other weather conditions at this site.
If conditions are right the group hopes to build a few wind turbines which will be owned by people in the local community rather than a private company.
The monitoring mast is just the first step in a long process but I would be happy to find a suitable site here in the Colne Valley where I live.
With energy prices rising so steeply I would love to find a way of generating sustainable power in our own area. Then local people could be more independent of the big energy companies and any profits would belong to us, not the fat cats!
Fiona Weir
Marsden
Academy concerns
I CAN only echo the sentiments of the union reps quoted in the article Schools ‘Bullied’ Into Academies’ (January 14) as they reflect my own experience.
I was one of a group of parents and prospective parents who expressed concern to Lindley Junior School about their plans to convert to an academy early last year. I can testify to the school’s uncooperative attitude to our legitimate concerns.
For example, the school refused to attend a public meeting we organised with the intention of allowing all sides of the debate on academies to be heard.
During the brief consultation period the school claimed that if it did not become an academy redundancies would have to be made. However, when asked to produce the evidence to substantiate this claim, they refused to do so.
Sadly, the good practice document that will come out of Kirklees Scrutiny Panel’s investigations advising other schools on how they might proceed if they decide to become academies is a case of too little, far too late.
Neil Clarkson
Huddersfield
Pint and pie boycott
I AM a lifelong Town fan in my early 40s and a season ticket holder since the 1982-83 season.
Both my parents are also season ticket holders along with my two brothers and anotherŠfour family members (in-laws).
Having discussed the stadium shares issue between ourselves we have all come to the same conclusion that we will boycott all stadium catering until the shares are returned.
Both my parents, my two brothers, myself and two or three of my family always meet up at 2pm in the stadiumŠand have a couple of pints and a pie before taking our seats at 2.55pm, then back for another pint at half time – but never again until our shares are returned.
Instead, we will spend our money in the Town shop on replica shirtsŠand knowing we are putting money directly in our own pockets, not funding the Giants further.
I also have many Town fans as friends who have said the same as us and they think that we are doing the right thing by spending our money in the Town shop and will do the same.
We are proud Yorkshire people with strong principles and morals and in the economic climate we are in KDSL cannot afford to lose customers.
Let’s hope the Giants fans have a big appetite, big thirst and bulging pockets because if all of us felt the same then you would have lost two thirds of your customers.
Up the Town!
PS come on Giants let’s see you do well again this time.
Steve
Deighton
Post office cutbacks
JUST to enlighten David Peace or anyone else who thinks that the GPO is in private hands.
The Royal Mail was never privatised and this is why the last Labour government was able to close 2,500 post offices while they were in power.
Had the post office been private that would not have happened and we would probably had a better service had it been in private hands.
Roy Bottomley
Huddersfield
Homes on green fields
LIB Dem Clr Nicola Turner is, perhaps, being a little disingenuous in her letter of January 12.
In the first place, Kirklees Council has not released site-specific proposals for development – no-one is able to claim to have ‘saved’ any green sites as yet, whether in the Colne Valley or elsewhere!
While Clr Turner is quick to claim that Lib Dem plans would not use any Green Belt in the Valley, she neglects to tell us that Lib Dems would nonetheless ravage at least 150 hectares of Green Belt in Kirklees (five of these in Meltham), including space for 2,000 houses.
The corresponding Conservative proposals are zero and zero.
Looking Kirklees-wide, Clr Turner claims that “Tory proposals didn’t make use of any brownfield sites for housing.” True, but misleading.
In fact, the Lib Dem proposals called for 72 hectares of ‘new’ land to be used for business relocation in order to ‘produce’ brownfield.
The Conservatives specifically called for zero green land to be released for industrial relocation and for all brownfield to be prioritised for business re-use.
When Clr Turner states that Conservative plans use more greenfield land for housing than do the Lib Dems she simply ignores the fact that her Party would use that greenfield for industry instead. Nothing ‘saved’ there.
On the subject of housing, it is an awkward fact for Clr Turner that Lib Dem proposals call for 22,470 new houses, Conservatives for 18,000. The ‘extra’ 4,470 Lib Dem houses would be on a mix of Green Belt and greenfield land.
One thing for sure, Clr Turner cannot be accused of being ignorant of the Lib Dem proposals – she signed them.
Bill Armer
Chairman, Huddersfield Conservative Association
SureStart consultation
THE letter ‘SureStart talks’ (January 14) from Mr David Hill stated that changes to children’s centres and family support services will be decided by Kirklees Cabinet members on January 25 – one week after the consultation ends on January 18.
It is important to point out that both of these dates are incorrect.
The consultation ends on Friday, January 20, at which point all the feedback and views received via the consultation will go through detailed analysis.
It is anticipated that the matter of changes to family support and children’s centres – there are no plans to close any of the 32 centres in Kirklees – will be considered by Cabinet members during Spring 2012, but this will be a number of weeks after the consultation has ended.
No decisions have been made on service changes and no Cabinet date has been set.
The feedback we receive from local people will be influential in the decision-making process.
Everyone is welcome to take part in the consultation and there is still time to do so.
I would like to urge anyone with an interest to have their say.
Booklets are available at community venues across Kirklees, including all children’s centres, and the information is online at www.kirklees.gov.uk/familysupportconsultation
Clr Peter O’Neill
Joint Cabinet member for Children and Families, Kirklees Council