Letters - January 23, 2017

In recent weeks, campaigners have seized a field just outside Kirby Misperton in North Yorkshire and established a camp to protest against Third Energy’s local fracking plans there.

The land belongs to Flamingo Land Resort, a major local tourist attraction that brings tens of thousands of visitors to the area every year, and which helps hoteliers, B&B owners, hospitality and many other businesses across Ryedale, to thrive.

After expressing a desire for the trespassers to leave, Flamingo Land has been targeted by campaigners that have posted negative comments and reviews online.

Can’t they see that by deterring visitors the risk to local jobs is immeasurable? Fylde hoteliers and B&B owners rely on local attractions like Blackpool Pleasure Beach bringing in visitors who need a place to stay – if anti-fracking activists succeeded in putting people off coming, it would have a huge and damaging impact on tourism, jobs and our local economy. This might not matter much to professional activists from places like Brighton and Bristol, but it matters to local people who depend on seasonal work in the tourist trade.

We don’t want or need travelling campaigners causing upset and harming local businesses, and would politely ask them to stay away!

Thank you.

Claire Smith

President StayBlackpool (formerly Blackpool Hotel & Guesthouse Assoc)

HEALTH

The NHS needs to be totally reformed

The NHS was designed by civil servants before the Second World War and brought into being by the post-war Attlee Government which, as is common with Labour Governments, didn’t think through the implications of what they were doing.

They blithely saddled the country with a health service it couldn’t afford, almost from Day One.

Now, in defiance of all the evidence, too many influential people would still like you to believe that the NHS is fit for purpose and that all that has to be done is pump more and more money into it.

Not their money, of course, but yours as a taxpayer.

But remember, the Brown Government tried this and all that happened was that the NHS absorbed the extra cash like it was a pie-eating competition – with little to show for it.

The whole system of health provision in this country needs root and branch revision. Trying to make our antiquated NHS suitable for a modern Britain is like me still trying to get into the jeans I used to wear when I was a teenager.

It won’t work. Into the skip with it and start again.

Hugh Rogers

via email

BREXIT

A good deal for UK will spell end for EU

Theresa May’s plans for a Brexit are certainly bold. But considering her authoritarian style as Home Secretary, nobody will be too surprised by the way she is suggesting that she be allowed to have her cake, while still eating it.

However, in setting her sights on obtaining a similar trade deal to the current one or even a better one, while not offering to contribute or accept any of the strings attached, will surely be doomed to failure. Her plans are not based upon sound logic nor a sound bargaining hand, but upon a demand we get superior trade deals simply because we are the UK.

Arguably, if the UK comes out of Europe with a better deal than those countries still within the EU, then that will surely be the final nail in the coffin of the EU project. Why would any country want to belong to a ‘club’ where better deals are on offer to those outside of it? Additionally, it also makes a mockery of the billions we have poured into the EU for the past 40 years, if we end up with a better deal without having to contribute a penny into the system.

Paul Dodenhoff

via email

TRAMS

Why are there no crossing gates?

Why have all the tram track crossing gates been removed from virtually the whole stretch of tracks Blackpool to Fleetwood and not replaced?

This is an accident waiting to happen, anyone with only a small amount of intelligence will see the dangers. It’s only a matter of time before a toddler, child or anyone for that matter who isn’t paying due care and attention, will run across the lines and into the road. That is, of course, provided they don’t get hit by a tram or a vehicle first.

I was out walking my labradoodle along the Norbreck to Little Bispham route yesterday evening, all of a sudden my dog bolted, ran across the tram lines and into the road and was almost hit by several vehicles. She turned and ran back towards me at the very time a tram was passing the crossing access.

Macy had a close escape this time, and has never crossed the tracks or done anything like that before, but I have always been aware of the dangers and for the life of me can not understand why the gates have not been replaced.

I have lived in this area all my life and know that the original wooden spring gates were there for safety reasons and served the purpose well.

People (including myself) sometimes cross the tracks without thinking.

When there is an obstacle such as a gate or barrier to physically move or open, our attentions are automatically drawn to the dangers, thus preventing potential accidents.

These gates were installed almost a century ago or possibly longer and its a fact that they saved untold lives.

This is a preventable accident waiting to happen and I hope there is a schedule of work in place to replace all the old gates.

Grant Howarth

via email