I WAS amazed, then dismayed, by a recent letter extolling the virtues of creating space for smaller businesses in Huddersfield town centre.
The writer stated that places such as Todmorden and Hebden Bridge which have smaller shops were more interesting and gave the shopper a greater shopping experience.
Huddersfield is not the size of those small rural towns. It does not have the surrounding hills and fields, so a comparison cannot be made between them.
If small units were the order of the day to get people’s businesses off the ground then you could ask why our disused mill (Saltaire) buildings have either been pulled down or converted into flats/apartments.
These buildings were dotted around Huddersfield and not just confined to the Colne Valley.
Some people very close to my heart had a small business and they found it extremely difficult, in fact nigh on impossible, to compete with the supermarkets.
What they did was to pick up the scraps left by those stores which would sell you everything. Shoppers were reluctant to shop because the price of goods was a little higher.
You might say they should lower their prices. In an ideal world where everyone was purchasing their goods at the same price that would be fine. Trouble starts when the supermarkets can place the same goods on their shelves at the wholesale cost to the small retailer.
Huddersfield needs a mix of retail outlets. In other words it needs something for all.
Firstly the town centre would benefit from remedial work to the buildings. We have some extremely grand architecture – interspersed with garbage – which is sadly missing proper maintenance.
The centre is not attractive to potential shoppers. We have people playing accordions, beggars and drunks along with loutish groups. Now that is not the type of shopping experience you want.
We all have ideas as to how we would like to see our town centre but it counts for nothing unless our council is prepared to get on board.
Just how many supermarkets, takeaways, pubs and taxi offices can this town take?
Charity shops serve a purpose but just how many do we need? This is not helping retail clothing stores.
We cannot be something we are not. We have said before that Huddersfield is unlike Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and other surrounding cities.
They have far more to offer people as a whole, and that’s where they go to shop. These cities all have a common factor and that is they have a vision – exactly what Huddersfield is missing.
Our vision and the solution to all our problems seems to be building thousands of new houses.
Raymond Bray
Shelley
‘Warmist’ religion
THE climate changes – always has, always will. What we don’t know is why.
Russ Elias (Mailbag June 14) accuses Bernard McGuin of ‘climate change denial’.
I expect what Mr McGuin might actually deny is man-made climate change, and rightly so.
Mr Elias claims the world is getting ‘warmer and wilder’. No it isn’t – global warming stopped in 1997 and that’s why the term was quietly dropped by the Warmists in favour of ‘climate change’.
In Exeter Cathedral the other day in a disgracefully patronising manner a sign said they were praying for ‘climate change deniers’; an article from the left-wing New Internationalist accompanied it.
Now this sums it all up. In these Godless times, Warmism has reached the state of being a religion. Like all religions it is based on faith not fact, it can’t be proved or disproved, and like all religions it does not suffer heretics gladly.
Anyone who claims to believe in man-made climate change is either a fool or a knave.
Richard Huddleston
West Slaithwaite
Blaming the wrong folk
A RATHER bizarre letter from Conservative Bernard McGuin blames the Green Party for taxes on energy bills.
Last time I checked it was the Conservatives who were running the country with their Lib Dem helpers, not the Green Party.
He says these taxes support renewable energy. Yes they do – but nuclear energy is very heavily subsidised too.
It is also worth noting that half of the £20m budget for Kirklees Warm Zones free insulation scheme came from these sources, which is saving energy and money for Kirklees householders to the tune of about £4m each year.
Mr McGuin would be quite correct in blaming the Green Party for the free insulation scheme which was the result of an amendment we made to the Kirklees Budget in 2007.
Clr Andrew Cooper
Leader, Green Party, Kirklees Council
Meeting energy needs
THE debate between climate change disciples and deniers gets ever more polarised with charge and counter-charge from both sides.
There is evidence (as opposed to facts) in defence of either position, but hidden agendas and vested interests are having too much sway on energy and carbon reduction strategies in the UK and globally.
What is clear is that renewables (wind, tidal, subterranean heat and solar) can only play a minor role in UK energy needs at their present state of development.
Unless we want the lights to go out and industry to grind to a halt in the near future, we need to reduce our reliance on energy imports of gas and oil from potentially hostile nations and harness those resources in the UK such as coal, of which there are abundant supplies and which will also provide employment opportunities in the north of England and other unemployment black spots.
Carbon capture from coal-fired power stations is developing well and should be subsidised at least as much as renewables and nuclear, but of course such actions are not deemed politically correct.
Unless we act in realistic ways to provide the energy we need, we will all be saluting on the bow of the UK Titanic as she slips below the waves.
I M Hunter
Lepton
Community’s proud day
LAST Saturday was a proud day for the Huddersfield Polish parishioners.
They held the 64th meeting of the Polish Institute of Catholic Action in Great Britain, IPAK in short in Polish.
Rector of the Polish Catholic Mission, Stefan Wylezka, and delegates from over the whole of Great Britain were present.
They are part of a bigger international organisation, the ethos of which is to engage lay people in building the Christian culture alongside the official church.
Formed before the Second World War, IPAK was hounded by the Nazis during the war and by the Communist Polish authorities after.
It was greatly helped by the support of the then bishop Karol Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II.
In Britain the IPAK was formed in 1947 and is still a strong organisation.
Tony Sosna
Huddersfield
The truth will out
I WOULD like to add the following to the comments of Hard Up and Fed Up (Mailbag, June 13) regarding Alfred Moore and campaigner Steve Lawson.
Steve Lawson has produced a report on the Fraser and Jagger murders which runs to some 230 pages. He hopes this can be published as a book.
I knew little or nothing about the murders before being allowed to read this document.
I can say that having started to read it, I just could not put it down. Having read it there is no doubt in my mind that Alfred Moore should never have been convicted.
Mr Lawson has discovered documents and evidence which were available in 1951, but the documents were deliberately kept from the defence team.
When Hard Up and Fed Up asked what has Mr Lawson has seen, I can say that he has obviously seen more than him.ŠFurthermore he alleges that Mr Lawson says that Pc Jagger lied in order to get a conviction. Steve Lawson has never said that.
In his report, in the section dealing with Pc Jagger, he starts by saying something to the effect that he has no wish to tarnish the man’s name.
When this section is read in its entirety it becomes obvious that others in the investigating team have used the condition of Pc Jagger to further their own agendas.
Believe me, there is much more to this case than has been published in the Press. As the saying goes, ’The truth will out’ŠŠ
Enlightened
Honley
