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Letters - December 9
Confused by free fare cost
The councils are screaming about a
concessionary fares shortfall crisis.
Am I missing something which most other over 60s might also ask?
What financial loss is there for the bus companies or councils?
OK, pensioners are sitting on seats, going from A to B for free with their pass but the buses are running on the same routes and times as they were before.
There are not extra buses to take the extra pensioners and the buses still have the same running costs.
If there were no free passes, it is quite likely most pensioners would not be taking these extra bus rides so where is the lost income?
The income shortfall is being worked out by calculating the accumulated fares as if those with free passes should actually have paid the normal fare for their journey.
However, the vast majority of them
wouldn't have been on the bus if they had to pay the fare, hence the companies wouldn't have taken that money anyway.
The councils are in fact receiving quite considerable sums of money from the
Government.
They are receiving these funds (212m
between councils in England), for collaboration with the bus companies, just for having a few extra bottoms on seats on buses that are running anyway and generally nowhere near full after 9.30am.
I hasten to suggest councils are receiving funds for something that actually doesn't cost anything.
It could be the bus companies are the
beneficiaries, charging the councils and thereby effectively receiving 'actual fare
payment' for the additional riders, whilst not incurring any additional costs.
It seems to me while the councils are
shouting, the bus companies are not.
Perhaps the councils wanting more
council tax, or suggesting services cuts, should negotiate with the bus companies – anyway doesn't Blackpool council own Blackpool Transport?
Mr B Wild
Thornton
Museum loss is bad news
Along with many others I was truly disappointed on hearing the news we wouldn't now be getting the V&A theatre museum ( The Gazette, December 3).
It is very sad after all the hard work put in by council officials and members of the public who lobbied for the scheme and the 50,000
frittered away on a feasibility study.
Where this red-herring figure of 60m to build a museum comes from is anyone's guess.
Here in Blackpool its rather apt though – for my guess is that this figure, rather like a white rabbit, has been pulled out of a magicians top-hat. Its an illusion beyond belief!
Here's my suggestion.
As it is proposed to site a new
Central library in the Talbot
Gateway area of the town, why not grasp this golden opportunity and incorporate a museum there?
This would not only cater for
theatre exhibits but would provide the town with the general purpose museum it has been crying out for.
Terry Regan
Lincoln Road
Blackpool
Call time on rebel
I am extremely pleased to see common sense has finally prevailed and Hamish Howitt's premises have been closed down. But I'm amazed it needed to go all the way to a the High Court.
You cannot just decide you will ignore the law and do just what you want and expect to get away with it.
This nonsense should have been ended months ago by Blackpool Council, but
seemingly they couldn't put a proper case together.
Why not? You break the law, you admit you do it, people see you do it – it should be an open and shut case – yet they failed to make it stick and now it is apparently costing taxpayers 30,000.
I'm afraid the press are also at fault here, constantly
giving Mr Howitt all the
publicity he wants.
Hopefully now the matter will be laid to rest.
Name and address supplied
End trade for puppy farms
I agree with Dr and Mrs K Lloyd "A Time of Danger to New Pets" (The Gazette, November 29).
Puppy farming is a very cruel and lucrative trade which
involves poor breeding practices, unlike those of Kennel Club
registered breeders.
On puppy farms hundreds of
females are forced to produce
several litters each year, which are then transported to either large pet retailers, or sold literally on the doorstep.
The mothers are left to
continue their isolated lives
confined in small pens.
It is fortunate that we have an effective and diligent Trading Standards team, who have
responded to local people's
concerns about problems within the pet trade on the Fylde.
RSPCA Longview, Easterleigh and all our other animal rescue centres do a wonderful yet very difficult task in re-housing vast numbers of unwanted pets each year.
A restriction placed on
ambiguous advertisements for pets would help considerably in
controlling the unscrupulous pet trade.
Miss C Hopkins
West Drive
Cleveleys
Prices rose after cut in retail tax
As pensioners on a restricted
budget we have been choosing a replacement for our old kitchen.
We saw a nice sink and taps in a popular Blackpool suppliers but decided to wait for the reduction in VAT.
When we went to the shop on
December 2 we found a new price list – a rise of at least three per cent on the goods we wanted to buy.
How can Government be
effective when it is undermined by cynical business practices.
Shelagh Johnson
Address supplied
Woken by bin lorry passing
I wonder if Blackpool Council might possess the noisiest
dustcart in in England?
I don't know if anyone else is woken at 6.15 am every day by this antiquated cart trundling past their window on
Devonshire Road?
It sounds like the 6.12am from Blackpool North going past! After many many complaints to the council to do something about this din I am yet to be able to get any sleep before the crack of dawn.
Lynne Kelly
Devonshire Road, Blackpool
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