Letters - June 14, 2016

First impressions are so important, and visitors driving along Preston New Road, the main road into Blackpool, must think they have arrived in the African bush.

I rang the council to ask when the wilderness was going to be cut, and a message was left on the answerphone. I was informed that, due to the Government cuts, and reduced funding, the council had to prioritise which grassed areas could be cut – Stanley Park and local cemeteries to name but two. They only had sufficient funds to cut the edges of all the other grassed areas around the town, and the main areas were being left to grow wild.

A few days later, the headline in The Gazette read “Council to write off £300,000”, and I quote “Blackpool Council is set to write off hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in a failed company – while ploughing millions more into another council-owned venture”. No Government cuts, or reduced funding affecting this project then?

Now in tonight’s headline, Blackpool Council star again, after banning a trader’s woolly creations from the lamp-posts on Bond Street (Gazette, June 11). They certainly had the desired effect in brightening up the area, and we actually took two of our friends past just to see how nice they were.

Obviously Bristol Council, who welcome this creative art are far more outgoing than Blackpool council. Perhaps they should be renamed Blackpool Clowncil.

Yours in disgust yet again.

Geraldine Hayes

Winster Place

Blackpool

ENERGY

Pub conversation is not a real debate

The Gazette (Saturday, June 11) carried a story which was apparently based on a conversation between Francis Egan, head of fracking company Cuadrilla, and Dave Daly, manager of the Three Lions pub on Central Drive, Blackpool.

While wondering how such an informal conversation justified space in the paper in the first place, I would like to point out that within the article Mr Daly makes several direct accusations which are untrue and quite insulting. For example, he suggests that objectors to the fracking process should conduct more research before issuing their “one-sided scare stories”.

Mr Daly seems unaware that these objectors have committed an immense amount of time and expense in researching the facts, attending Cuadrilla’s presentations, attending meetings and presentations and listening to experts.

He also points out that Cuadrilla moving their head office to Lancashire was a positive move. Can I ask why this should even have been permitted, when the findings of the six-week inquiry have yet to be published? Cuadrilla do not yet have the mandate to proceed with fracking, so why commit to a new office?

Mr Daly is entitled to his opinion, but he should not resort to denigrating citizens whilst broadcasting his own one-sided views, on the back of an apparently convivial conversation in a pub, with someone who has an obvious vested interest in fracking.

J Bailie

via email

EUROPE

Government has let the grass grow

I was puzzled at the letter from Paul Galley Conservative councillor (Gazette, June 11), who is clearly ignorant of the facts regarding our membership of Europe, the cuts to local government, fishing quotas, and democracy within the EU. He claims not to know who the MEPs are!

Now it seems Mr Galley can blame the European Union for our economic catastrophe. He seems ignorant that over fishing caused a serious decline in fish stocks, particularly Cod in the Atlantic. Quotas were necessary to protect fish stocks. Fleetwood fishing industry declined in the sixties before Britain joined the EU, yet trawlers still survive and we still enjoy fresh fish from the docks. We even export our cockles to Europe as they are more of a delicacy there than in Britain.

Visiting Victoria hospital recently I was interested in the number of doctors I met from other countries working in the hospital. Out of six doctors I spoke to, only one was British – two were from Greece and Portugal; two from Africa, and one from China. We do recruit from the rest of the world already.

Ignorance may be bliss in the Tory ranks over Europe, but we have to recognise that cuts from the Tory austerity package heaped upon us by a government failing to deal with the bankers, the rich who avoid paying full taxes, created our local cuts crisis.

Are cuts to council services, such as grass mowing, a result of the UK’s financial commitment to the European Union? No, the government has allowed the grass to grow around our feet. Get real Mr Galley!

Marjorie Nye

Knowle Avenue

Blackpool

EUROPE

The idea of Great Britain is a myth

On the subject of the EU referendum, it seems too many people, and it would seem some politicians, are in cloud cuckoo land – that is if the politicians are not using the idea as a vehicle for their own particular gain. The era they refer to when Great Britain was reputedly great is nothing short of a myth.

I refer to the era prior to the Second World War. Working class people lived in dire poverty in slums.

Many wars were fought and it was the poorest people who found employment in the armed services, and fought and died in their thousands for the comparatively few who made millions.

I am no left winger, but the myth needs to be mentioned.

What we have today has largely been fought for by people from the working class and the lower middle class who fought with some tenacity in order to gain some equality in the distribution of wealth.

Keith D Swift

via email