FOR a moment I thought I was reading a very late April Fool’s joke when I picked up Thursday’s Examiner, August 20.
The news that our council is spending yet more money on St George’s Square is beyond the pale.
It’s got to the point where it is one very big joke.
I have never felt inclined to write to a newspaper before nor ever complain to a council over something – when my bins haven’t been emptied I’ve accepted it knowing it would be done eventually.
But all I can see is my rates being wasted and for how much longer?
Will the council please leave well alone – you are messing with everything that makes this town special and turning it into a carbon copy of every other place in the UK.
You have turned our traditional square into a complete monstrosity – an ugly, unsympathetic square that gives us nothing.
We will never beat Leeds for being a modern city, we can never be as quaint as Holmfirth should be, but we could have made this town something we could all be proud.
I cannot believe that £4million has been spent on what on a day to day basis will be a giant taxi rank and a bus station.
And while the council says that the money has come from Europe, do you not see that you have wasted that money?
You close New Mill Library for the sake of £41,000 a year yet waste £4million on some flag stones and a water fountain which will squeeze the public purse even more.
Yes, lighting may give the square something that is missing, it will enhance the buildings which have been badly let down by the work done on the ground. But at what cost?
Surely it’s best to get our day to day services right before spending any more on what you have already ruined – for good, I am sad to say.
I hope the council officials and councillors of all parties hang their heads in shame because we, the public, feel very let down.
Graeme Turner
Bradley
Who’s in charge
I HAVE long suspected that our local councillors surely could not be so anxious to commit political suicide and therefore some of the recent unpopular decisions taken by them could not be their own work.
So who is making the decisions in Kirklees?
It isn’t the leader of the council who admitted recently that he was unaware of the intended closure of the Community Contact Resource Centre.
The Local Government Ombudsman is presently considering a complaint I made about a recent decision taken by the Planning Sub Committee.
I asked for the names of those individuals responsible for proposing the closure of the Tourist Information Centre and New Mill Library under the Freedom of Information Act.
I have been told by an officer that “no one proposed the closures” – it seems that decisions just happen.
Isn’t it about time that we threw out the whole lot and started again with people who know what they are doing?
Trevor Woolley
Linthwaite
What next?
IT’S not long since Clr Ken Sims was telling us that his Kirklees Council cabinet had waited and waited for English Heritage’s thoughts before digging up our Square (Examiner, September 5, 2008)
Now a council officer tells us that the question of his proposed lights will need to be referred to English Heritage before they can be installed.
I’m baffled.
Still, it was in Clr Sims’ time that I read in the Examiner (December 6, 2007) that Harold Wilson’s widow Lady Mary had graciously agreed to the moving of his statue, so I suppose anything can happen.
Austin Holroyd
Almondbury
Lets get trail started
THE 75% vote in favour of a Huddersfield Heritage Trail, Examiner Vote, Thursday August 20, was most encouraging.
Now the work begins to establish criteria for buildings, past events and people worthy of inclusion and to choose a suitable route for it.
We would not only welcome suggestions but also offers of practical help. There is much to be done.
You can contact me on john@ashescommonfarm.co.uk.
John Lockwood,
Vice-Chairman, Huddersfield Civic Society
No Giants mention
AS a supporter of both Huddersfield Town and the Giants I also thought as Chris Thomas did (Mailbag, August 17) that the half time pitch announcer at last Saturday’s and Tuesday’s match against Brighton was offside.
He made a least six announcements about the £5 entrance and never once said that the early kick-off and the £5 charge was because the Giants were playing in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley.
This was the only blot on a terrific night for Town.
Jeff Brook
Almondbury
No understanding
PERHAPS Martin Noble should read and digest the letter from ‘Concerned Housewife’ (Examiner, August 20) then perhaps then he would conclude that it isn’t ‘guts and honesty’ being shown by Kali Mountford.
It’s a total lack of understanding of what many of her constituents would truly like to happen to the old Midlothian site.
Tim Radcliffe
Huddersfield
Crucial funding
YOUR story about the proposed traffic scheme in Meltham (Examiner, August 17) is good news.
However it fails to give credit where it is due.
Meltham Town Council has been seeking action for several years and has had many meeting with highways officers.
The Holme Valley North Area Committee, which I chair, has had public meetings with local residents on several occasions. But crucially the funding for the scheme came from a Liberal Democrat amendment to the Kirklees budget in 2007/08.
Clr David Woodhead
Kirklees Council & Meltham Town Council
Weather control
MY friend David Griffiths’ letter (Mailbag, ‘Weather or climate?’ Examiner, August 10) surprises me, as I know David to be a meticulous researcher.
I don’t need to publish anything to prove that man-made climate change doesn’t exist because Googling “climate change sceptic” gives 507,000 results, mostly off people 1,000 times more qualified than I’ll ever be, who have already researched it.
They generally conclude that man-made climate change is simply a political conspiracy, now embraced by big business which stands to make billions from carbon credits trading.
The point is that before we waste trillions of dollars on spurious solutions we need to prove that problems do exist and can be overcome – we can’t.
Regarding David’s punt that we’ll both be dead in 50 years, speak for yourself.
As long as I’m reasonably mobile and still have my mental faculties I intend to live to at least 100.
Not that I’m likely to have a pension – it’ll all have been blown on wind farms, but long before then we’ll be shaking our heads in disbelief that mankind ever thought he could control the weather.
Richard Huddleston
Slaithwaite
We did all we could
THE Holme Valley Protection Fellowship have done everything within their power to make Cliff Rec a safer place by having the shelter removed (Examiner, August 18).
The police, council, councillors, multi agencies, local residents and public poll all support this move in a bid to reduce the risk of accident, death, bereavement and stress.
However, the shelter is to remain as certain individuals believe sentimentality has greater value than life.
Meg Plummer
The Holme Valley Protection Fellowship
It doesn’t add up
AFTER 27 years of sustained year-on-year improvement, we now have an ‘A’ level pass rate approaching 98%.
As any ‘A’ level maths student will tell you, on this basis we will soon achieve a world record pass rate of 101% – second only to the share of the ‘popular’ vote of some third world dictator.
Much more seriously, as that same student could compute, a government aspiration of 50% of school leavers going to university plus reduced funding for both further and higher education places equals heartbreak for many.
Yet again, rhetoric and action are not matched – the facts do not add up.
Bill Armer
Deighton
Exam praise
WELL done to all those at Greenhead College who passed their exams.
I know how hard many of them worked and I have no doubt we’ll be hearing of more success from these students.
A proud mum
Lindley
Smokers’ corner
SEEING that photograph of the smokers outside the hospital (Examiner, August 21) I was amazed they were allowed to take the machines outside.
Especially considering they take wheel chairs off you the moment you’re at the doors.
Sent via SMS text message
