Letters - Tuesday, November 23, 2021

I am totally amazed to be told that the new office block being built to house government clerical staff doesn’t have one single car parking space, not even a disabled bay.

Over 2,000 new workers coming to the centre of Blackpool and not one single space to park their cars.

Not only is it already difficult to find council car parks due to various closures it would seem that the council wants everyone to use the central car park site or public transport when neither option is totally practical.

Some of these workers may not live on a local transport route, public transport in Blackpool is often disrupted for various unseen reasons and the new, behind schedule and over budget, Talbot Road tram link is untested and its viability and frequency still unknown.

Blackpool is already heavily congested due to badly thought out diversions. The introduction of a further 1000-plus vehicles at peak times of the day will add a new level of chaos. Side streets, that so far have no parking restrictions, will be full to bursting with parked vehicles restricting access and movement and as we move closer to being a majority of electric vehicle owners the council will no doubt ensure that all charging points are in their controlled car park and there will be a severe shortage of on street charge points.

There is also a misconception by council development officers that having all these additional workers re-deployed into the Talbot Gateway will benefit the retail sector of the town. Well unless these workers want to support the various services offered by the many massage parlours along Cookson Street or visit Sainsburys then there’s really nothing else of any significant retail choice in the immediate area.

With a one-hour lunch break heading down to the Houndshill Centre, having something to eat and browse around the shops would mean workers would have to run there and run back as fast as an Olympic sprinter, and you can forget about after hours dwell time, most people want to head back home after work and look after their family or get their feet up.

This location and the overall design is badly thought out. It should have been located in an area of Blackpool where access is easier, where footfall is desperately needed and re-generation is well overdue. Blackpool is not just the town centre, places like Bond Street and other areas of South Shore are in desperate need of help and support.

Once again this council are ignoring the needs of their extended communities and creating pockets of deprivation whilst building their own Shangri la on straw, overinflated egos and with borrowed money. The only people ultimately benefiting from this torrent of bad decisions are concrete manufacturers.

Coun Tony Williams

Conservative group leader

VIRUS

Needs of society requires sacrifice

Total lockdowns are again being imposed in Europe and some countries, for example Austria, are making vaccination against the virus, particularly the Delta variant which is highly transmissible, mandatory.

The World Health Organisation has declared the current situation as ‘very worrying’ adding that there may well be another 500,000 deaths from Covid by March next year unless stricter measures, including possibly mandatory vaxes, are introduced; a staggering figure.

In Britain the daily infection rate remains stable but very high and many are still dying In hospital. There is a danger that we are becoming immune to the daily death statistics.

That is why it is crucial that, unless there are sound medical reasons for not doing, every eligible person should have the vaccination. Refusal may result in vaccination becoming mandatory here.

This would not be as some claim an infringement of personal liberty, it would be done to protect others and prevent our overworked NHS from being overwhelmed.

Covid passports and a tightening up of basic preventative measures, like mask wearing, in places were there is mass attendance, may well be necessary if we are to avoid another lockdown because scientists know that vaccination is insufficient on its own.

Such measures are needed to avoid us falling into the trap of trying to prevent a problem that has already happened.

Anything that is to the advantage of the whole community requires personal sacrifice. During the war we had to curtail many activities in order to protect the community.

Most of us pay taxes for the common good when we would prefer not to pay them.

The pandemic is a classic example of the need to put common interests before personal preferences.

As Mr Spock tells Capt Kirk in the Star Trek 2 series: ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few’.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

VIRUS

No wonder Covid numbers are rising

No wonder cases of Covid in Blackpool are rising.

My daughter and two of her children, aged 13 and 14, have been diagnosed with Covid 19 and are self isolating, but she was told in no uncertain terms on informing their school that they had Covid 19, she had to take her youngest son aged 12 into school.

How mad is that ?

Where on earth is the sense in that a child from a home with three positive tests is allowed to mix with all & sundry ?

Susan Bonham

South Shore

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