READERS' VIEWS 12/3

11 March 2009

Scrap these loss-making regulations

I COULD not believe the arrogance of the council's chief transport planner, Roger Newham, in the article on civil parking enforcement - Observer, February 26.
The flippant "there’s no chance of scrapping regulations" begs the question, why not? We do live in a democracy don’t we?
I must also be naive to have thought the councils where there to provide a service for local people, not make profits out of them. The astounding £345,000 profit in Warwick alone is outrageous, more than the cut in the whole county's library budget!
He then appears to gleefully complain of a "light touch" in enforcement as if this is a bad thing. Doesn’t this light touch maintain good public relations? He then comments that bus companies have got more passengers, but what is the evidence that links this to fewer cars in the town centre and why does he not refer to the impact on local businesses and shops his policy has had, which in Warwick’s case will have seen at least £345,000 taken out?
It doesn’t take much common sense to realise that of course car park charges increase the turnover of spaces, nobody wants to stay long in such a parking space. Three years ago you could park for free and what was needed was someone to enforce the one hour free parking.
No wonder council tax increases when we are now paying for 11 extra people to enforce parking. Where is the evidence that things have really improved?
Name and address supplied

Writer fails to justify crossing

WHAT a pathetic and ridiculous letter from Dean Marsden - Observer last week.
If Mr Marsden is going to make several baseless references to "ignorant drivers" then the least he could do is to ensure that what he says has some basis in fact.
Mr Marsden ludicrously claims that the new pedestrian crossing near the Benn Hall on Newbold Road does nothing to increase the problem of Corporation Street being almost perpetually at a standstill.
The new crossing is only five car lengths from the roundabout. If he bothered to observe the situation at almost any time, particularly during the busy morning and evening traffic, he would see that every time the lights on the crossing are red the traffic backs up on to the roundabout causing complete chaos on the roundabout, on Corporation Street and on Oliver Street.
Mr Marsden then even more ludicrously claims that when the new relief road is open there will be much less traffic on Corporation Street. No doubt the fantastic powers of observation which make him blind to the obvious chaos being caused by the insane location of the new crossing have also caused him not to notice the appalling, unnecessary and unwanted and hideously ugly new ASDA monstrosity that is being foisted upon the citizens of Rugby.
Does he really believe that this will be such a white elephant that it will generate no extra traffic on Corporation Street? And if, as he ridiculously claims, the new crossing is not causing a problem then why does a non existant problem need to be solved by the relief road?
Who is the idiot who is responsible for locating new crossings in Rugby just off roundabouts? Do they not understand that the whole point of roundabouts is to keep traffic moving?
What was needed on Newbold Road was for the crossing near the police station to be moved perhaps 70 metres north. This would have obviated the need for this insanely located new pedestrian crossing.
Where a new traffic light controlled pedestrian crossing is immediately needed on Newbold Road is near Wood Street. It is almost impossible to cross at this location and I believe if a crossing is not located there soon it is only a matter of time before someone trying to cross the road at that location is seriously injured or worse.
What a wasted opportunity to put a new crossing where it is really needed. At Wood Street it would have been a great addition to safety, at the present insane location it is unnecessary and causing complete and utter chaos.
Brian Wainright, Shakespeare Gardens, Rugby

Stop the meddling

ROBIN Aird’s letter is the latest in a string of ideas and gripes from the man who seems determined to turn Dunchurch into an experimental Marxist village - Observer last week.
First we had Mr Aird’s call for a blanket ban on alcohol in the village because of the vandalism caused by the village’s youngsters. Did it not dawn on Mr Aird that if they are prepared to break the law on underage drinking they are probably prepared to break a ban on drinking in the village?
While Mr Aird is out removing all alcohol from Dunchurch, he also wants CCTV in the village. Perhaps next month Dunchurch Parish Council will be authorising the printing on posters declaring that 'Robin Aird is watching'?
Next on the list was the naming of a village development after Dunchurch’s favourite historical character, Guy Fawkes. According to Mr Aird’s research, the connection of the Gunpowder plot to Dunchurch was tenuous and we should forget all about it. Centuries of association with a widely recognised figure forgotten because Robin isn’t happy. Luckily the developers and planning department chose to ignore this meddling.
Then we see that Dunchurch Parish Council Mr Aird chairs, has increased the precept it charges residents for special expenses by 23.2 per cent since 2006 while the town area has increased its special expenses to residents by only 5.05 per cent in the same period. Has the increase in service provision to Dunchurch really been over four times better than that of the town area?
Finally we come to Mr Aird’s current gripe, that he isn’t able to have a meeting to discuss Dunchurch’s crimewave with the police. So that your readers are aware, Mr Aird’s parish council has an update from the local constable at every meeting. Here the police constable can be questioned by residents and Mr Aird himself. If this isn’t enough every three months the inspector of police in Rugby comes to the Dunchurch Divisional Panel (last meeting 4th March) where again an update is provided and Mr Aird, along with any other resident, can raise concerns.
I don’t think police resources need to be stretched to another meeting with the residents of Dunchurch.
For a Liberal Democrat (Dunchurch and Knightlow elections, 2008), Mr Aird doesn’t seem very liberal to me.
Peter Laurence, Waring Way, Dunchurch

Bins are no eco-friendly

RUGBY Borough Council seem to have taken it upon themselves to solve the recylcing and landfill waste problem in one easy way and this was to move a portion of the problem to every household within the borough.
I am referring to the delivery of yet another money and resource wasting experiement, the black bin with a blue Lid.
Although I applaude their efforts in getting us to recylce, I now have three bins cluttering up what little space I have. Maybe I could park my car on council property because if this continues I'm not going to have any where to park? But no I couldn't do that as I would have to pay to park it!
As a household comprising of only two people we rarely fill a single black bin, and the red recycling boxes worked fine with the occasional trip to a recyling centre.
Perhaps the part of this inconsiderate excercise that really annoys me is that the majority of people take great effort in making their environment and homes look neat, tidy and ordered. What I now have is a home that looks like an extention of the Hunters Lane refuse centre.
The answer has just dawned on me, I'll cut up my new recylcing bin in to parts small enough to fit in to a plastic recylcing centre and help save the planet.
Paul Clowes, Via email

Priorities are wrong

THEY say a week is a long time in politics. Well, it would seem that a year is an eternity.
Last year, the Tory cabinet Member for the environment Coun Heather Timms said: "(Long grass) keeps surface temperatures down in towns and cities by creating a cooling effect, and it helps to prevent flooding by absorbing rainwater. Areas of managed long grass can also provide a haven for wildlife and insects, some of which are already showing there (sic) heads having grown as quickly as the grass in recent weeks."
Well, if that was the case last year why has the Tory council allocated £65,000 to cut it this year? It's not that I agree with Coun Timms' previous assessment of the virtue of long grass, but there are other uses that money could be put to.
Labour has proposed a properly costed zero increase in Council Tax so any savings would be in addition. So what would I use £65,000 for? £65,000 is equal to one per cent off the Rugby Borough Council element of the Council Tax.
Voluntary groups are not receiving the support they need either from the Tory borough or county councils. Take RoSA, a group that provides advice and support for victims of sexual violence. It faces oblivion if some short term funding is not secured immediately. If it folds, people from Rugby will have to go to Walsall or Leicester to get support. This is clearly not right.
So, as worrisome as long grass in some places is, for me, supporting the victims - male and female - of sexual violence is a greater priority.
Perhaps Coun Timms, given that she is so positive about the benefits of long grass, will join me in supporting the transfer of £65,000 to protect victims of crime in Rugby?
Coun Tom Mahoney, Labour borough councillor for Newbold ward

Surprised at lack of interest

ON the most important evening of the council year, that of budget setting and which determines the amount of Council Tax each household will pay, not one member of the public attended.
Had they done so they would have witnessed the Labour and Lib Dem groups submit budgets which were economic nonsense.
For the Labour group, Coun Shera suggested that we should be building 100 new council houses without the faintest idea of how much they would cost or where the money would come from. They also proposed no compulsory redundancies, which would cost the taxpayer £253,000, although how they imagine we can insulate the public sector from the unprecedented economic downturn that we are all suffering is beyond me.
The Liberal Democrat group, with their usual conceited opinion that they are elected to spend the taxpayers' money on their own itinerary, proposed a skills-based hub, but could not explain what a skills-based hub was, or how it would work, or why the council should be providing one at a cost of £200,000. They also propose we invest in biodiversity projects, their pet fetish, but paid for by the taxpayer.
The only responsible budget was submitted by the Conservative leader Craig Humphrey. It acknowledged that you must cut your coat according to your cloth, and that it is the council taxpayer who provides the cloth. It keeps Rugby Borough Council’s share of the council tax to a minimum. It provides help for small businesses struggling in the local economy and it recognised that you cannot continually expect the council taxpayer to pay more in order to save the elected members the unpleasant task of making the difficult decision to reduce the workforce.
Coun David Cranham, Conservative borough councilllor for Brownsover North ward

More to be done

IN ANSWER to Coun Peter Butlin, who believes he acted well on behalf of the residents of Blackwood Avenue - he has only done half the job? Observer last week.
The shops on the right hand side are OK, apart from one shop that nobody has taken on which is the ex-paper shop.
The real problem is that the shops that used to be on the left hand side have been closed out with horrible concrete blocks which are an eyesore.
Had the residents used these blocks on there own properties they would soon have been stopped.
Why weren't the builders made to use proper house bricks to brick up these shop fronts?
The garden areas around the front of these shops are never kept up, nobody seems to want to be responsible for there up keep. Flats have still got water leaking from overflows for years, the outside pipes are all rusty.
I will say great for the garage clearance, but the rest will never be the same. The front neads action.
J E Kilsby, Via email

Abattoir is a big concern

MANY readers will be aware already, from your excellent coverage, that the residents of Onley Park are committed to fight the proposal to build an abattoir adjacent to our private residential estate at Onley - Observer, February 26.
There are many grounds for objection, including the risks and probabilities of offensive smells, vehicle and animal noise, night operation and potential disease and pollution. In addition, this kind of industrial development is totally out of place anywhere other than on a dedicated industrial estate - and maybe not even there if the Crick experience is anything to go by.
We fear that this, if approved, will be the thin end of the wedge and we will end up totally surrounded by prisons and industry.
We also have serious concerns about the proposed impact of heavy traffic and in particular the further escalation of traffic on the A45 with the additional access only a couple of hundred yards from the main access drive to three prisons and our estate. This is a road which was recently subjected to a 50mph speed limit and only this month has been designated as a High Risk Crash Route by the highways authority.
Finally I would like to draw attention to the erosion of natural justice which ensues when Rugby Borough Council planners can say that they are not required to notify or consult us on this matter, since we do not live within Warwickshire. We do not live in a vacuum either, and the county and parish boundary actually forms the edge of the field proposed for the slaughterhouse, which incidentally is within 400 yards of our estate.
We are referring this issue to local councillors and MPs ad MEPs as a fundamental flaw in local democracy is involved.
Dennis R Cooper, Hon. Secretary, Onley Park Residents' Association

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