Letters - February 1, 2016

As for the new buyer of their existing location, words fail me, as I can’t believe they can be so heartless to have left Mandy with this nightmare!

I know this lady has a heart of gold, I’ve had help dog wise in the past when she put herself about to get a particular dog I wanted. I have an elderly Jack Russell now and when I lose him, as ultimately I must, I’d be on Mandy’s phone.

I have helped financially, but as an OAP my funds are limited. To those ‘better off’, make lives (yours and theirs) even better by taking one or more of these innocent rescued animals into your homes – you won’t regret it!

Neil Kendal

Stamford Avenue

South Shore

HOUSING

Council has to step in for good of town

I write regarding Gillian Campbell’s assertion that poor housing is at the root of the town’s social problems (Politically Correct, Gazette, January 27).

I like to know if she has any economic qualifications, or if she has studied the economic greats whose theories stand the test of time, like John Maynard Keynes.

Lots of northern towns, Blackpool being one of them, have seen a population decline over the last 20 years, yet the housing stock has risen.It does not take an economic genius to foresee the future for old, once-loved housing that becomes worth less than the owner paid for it 10 years ago – a rot sets in and year-by-year the area is only fit to house the people from the bottom end of the economic cycle, whom hard working families move away from.

Instead of building new housing estates, that look nice while they are new but are built for families without any fields or parkland, we should be reinventing these old but solid ex-B&Bs that have turned into houses of multiple occupation.

Instead of complaining about bad landlords, the council should work out a way to solve the problem.

A bad landlord with a rundown HMO that used to be a B&B that brings down an area should be given help. This building, instead of housing say six less desirable occupants, is transformed into one house for a large family, or two flats. The work is done and paid for by the council and they manage the property, charging cheap rents until the loan is repaid or the property is sold, solving two problems at one stroke.

I believe, and this especially goes for new housing estates without fields and playgrounds for children, are just a future bleak sink estates. I grew up on Grange Park, and my life as a child was great because we had parks and fields to play on, and through all its bad times it has stood the test of time because it was done right, with the right values of helping less well off families find somewhere to live in a good, safe environment.

Michael Bentley

via email

MANUFACTURING

Time to return to our industrial roots

Having heard that the contract for new rail carriages has gone to a firm in Spain and is worth £490m, one has to wonder under how many politicians knew about this beforehand? Those that did kept quiet because they knew the furore it would create.

Successive governments have dwindled away our industrialist heritage through lack of support.

We had a company called Bombardier once that manufactured carriages but it was allowed to go to the wall because contracts were given to continental firms or others further afield.

It is all very well remembering the great names in industry, such as Brunel, but we have to continue to emulate them. We have to do more to safeguard our historical lead in engineering and preserve the steel industry.

Time we returned to our roots and nurtured what is left of our industries instead of letting orders worth £490m slip away.

D Angood

via email

POLITICS

Is Cameron really serious on the EU?

It does not matter whether you support or despise the EU – is there anyone out there who actually takes Cameron’s ‘renegotiations’ seriously? We had an identical scam used by Ted Heath and Wilson back in the day and in those naive times – it swung the vote.

Pauline Arnott

via email

ENVIRONMENT

Bin collections aren’t broken, don’t fix ’em

With regard to Tim Armit’s letter on the subject of bin collections in the Gazette’s Your Say section on January 22, we could not disagree more.

We need to have our blue bin collected at least once a fortnight. It is often over half full after two weeks. They can get very heavy and are not easy for older people to move.

Concerning the ‘green bins’, we have put ours out full of garden rubbish every collection date this winter, and we would hate to see their collection stopped between November and March. When there is a mild winter, the continual collection of the green bins is very important.

It seems to us that the collection of bins in Blackpool is just about right and we are pleased with the service. If a system is working there is no need to mend it!

Terry and June Challis

Wilson Square

Little Bispham