Letters - October 24, 2016

Correspondent Matt Ridley commented: “In the case of shale gas, nearly a decade after it first started applying to do so, Cuadrilla is to be allowed to drill a single well in Fylde, in Lancashire, under strict environmental conditions, using a technique – horizontal drilling and fracking – that has been tested more than a million times in America with very few environmental problems.

“In that decade, America has used this technique to smash the oil price, transform its economy and cut its carbon emissions.

“We’ve spent the decade in a futile attempt to placate a handful of implacable green fanatics.

“It’s tempting to blame Nimbyism. But in Lancashire, the problem is the opposite of Nimbyism. The inundating of local councillors came not from locals but from outsiders.

“According to council officers, of 13,448 objections received, fewer than one in ten were actual letters (as opposed to forms thrust in front of people by pressure groups, mainly Friends of the Earth) and fewer than one in seven came from Fylde. So just 2.9 per cent of the adult population of Fylde objected to shale gas drilling. We should remember that next time the BBC starts bleating about ‘fierce local opposition’.”

Couldn’t agree more!

J Standing

via email

EDUCATION

Term-time holiday fines are a rip-off

Mum wins her appeal against a fine for taking her child out of school during term time, and rightly so. The school system should have more sense than fining families for going on holiday.

They should be putting pressure on the air lines and holiday people for the way they hike prices up during school holidays.

Going on holiday can be so expensive during set school holidays, and it’s about time the Government stepped in and put a stop to this, so challenge these fines by all means.

I think they are a complete rip off, but no more a rip off than the holiday industry.

Bruce Allen

Hawkshead Terrace

Blackpool

FESTIVITIES

Menacing months at the end of the year

You could say Julian Wilde took the words right out of my mouth (Gazette, October 20) when he says Halloween is just a menace.

It seems to me it has become more so in recent years (American influence perhaps?) I certainly have no recollections of the way our behaviour of kids and adults making such an issue of it when I was a youngster.

Above all, it’s not just restricted to one night, as Julian says, pumpkins have been on sale since mid-September.

And it’s not just Halloween I hate, bonfire night is another. Remember, remember I could well do without. And in this respect I know I speak for those with pets who have a terrible time with dogs that don’t understand all the loud bangs and these start well before the 5th (and after) too.

Finally why do we get Christmas thrown at us from September? When it finally arrives it’s an anti climax. So, the whole of the end of the year is a menace to me Julian.

Neil Kendall

Stamford Avenue

South Shore

HEALTH

Tax the obese as we tax the smokers

I have to say that I laughed aloud at the petulant email from surfy77 demanding the right to be fat (Web comments, Your Say, October 19).

If the Government were to behave with consistency, it would require food to be sold from behind opaque doors as are cigarettes. Alcohol would have to be in plain packaging and no consumable could be advertised.

If 77 is surfy’s waist measurement, then let him gorge himself to death, but only if he pays an equivalent amount of tax for his vice, as other people have to pay for theirs.

As a smoker myself [surprise!] I look forward to sharing my outdoor smoking area with gluttons.

David Neal

Wilvere Drive,

Thornton Cleveleys

YOUTH

Scouts are a shining light in community

This is Scout Community Week and I’m super proud of the difference 1st Fleetwood Beaver Scouts are making in their local community.

This year, 1st Fleetwood Scout Group has chosen to focus on dementia. This means, thanks to the Scouting’s award-winning campaign, A Million Hands, they have spent time learning about the issue, finding out about the people it affects and taking meaningful action to improve and support their quality of life in Fleetwood.

I would also like to recognise the volunteers at 1st Fleetwood Scout Group for their dedication each week to giving Scouts the chance to have fun, adventure and take part in life changing opportunities through the A Million Hands project.

During this special week, I would just like to say ‘A Million Thanks’ to these incredible Scouts.

They really are shining lights in their community.

Bear Grylls

Chief Scout