Expenses rise is not deserved at all

Earlier this month I sat in the council chamber and spoke passionately against the proposed closure of children’s centres and the axing of PCSOs. Likewise I voted against the obnoxious increase in councillor allowances - which were voted in by the Tory majority. Again I spoke out against this abhorrent decision and listened with incredulity to the it’s ‘only fair’ and ‘we’re doing it ‘to encourage new councillor comments’.

To hear this from the same individuals who had earlier voted to close essential services and watch jobs disappear was beyond comprehension.

So we fought against this by raising petitions and battling to get an extraordinary council sitting called in order to rescind the increase. This has now been agreed and on Monday January 8 at 10am in County Hall’s chamber we will attempt to overturn this decision.

I am proud to have stood up for what’s right and will continue to speak up for those unable to ever be in a position to award themselves an 11pc increase. In May all councillors knew the allowances they would receive, so to say otherwise is ludicrous. To say councillors deserve more at a time when jobs are being lost, zero contracts awarded, food banks emptied, benefits cut, businesses closed and frontline life saving services shelved then I am truly shocked.

CLLR MIKE SMITH-CLARE

Nelson and Southtown

We will not be taking increase

Having reconsidered the recent vote for an allowance rise at Norfolk County Council on December 11, we have both written to the finance director on the December 15 to renounce the vote, and will not be taking the in year rise to our allowances.

CARL SMITH AND ANDREW GRANT

County councillors,

Berydon Division and Lothingland Division

Thank you to people who helped me

I would like to thank the man who never gave me his name who stopped when I came off my bike on Mallard Way. He went out of his way to go and get my daughter and came back to me. Thank you also to Sheree who stopped with me too.

Two hearts of gold. Thank you both so much.

Name and address WITHHELD

Why do we suit our words for people?

Why do we think we can denigrate everybody and everything to suit us such as the code of decency, sexual gender language and the quality of our religion so it does not offend anybody in our company. When we say a happy Christmas to all as with all extremes there comes a point of cut off.

But please let’s not lose that point of equality and quality of life. Have a happy and peaceful Christmas.

JACK DYE

Gonville Road,

Gorleston

Will councillors help police funding?

I am writing this letter in disgust at the county councillors of Great Yarmouth for the increases in their yearly expenses of £1,099 at the request of leader Cliff Jordan. Then comes Mr Jordan’s increase of £4,205. Why? Will Mr Jordan let the people know how he came to this obscene increase.

The police are begging for help. I would gladly pay 50p per week increase in my council tax. Come on Mr Jordan and councillors, how much will you give to the police?

GORDON IREDALE

St Georges Drive,

Caister

Thank you for hospice support

Everyone at EACH would like to say a massive thank you to the communities across Norfolk that have been so generous in their support this year.

For those that don’t know, we currently provide specialist care for 128 children and young people with life-threatening conditions, and various support services for 219 family members.

You may also be aware that we’re in the midst of the nook appeal, our £10m vision to build a new Norfolk hospice and transform children’s palliative care for the county.

Our existing building in Quidenham has been an incredible home-from-home for many families for over 25 years, but we’ve outgrown it and this restricts the care we’re able to offer.

Our new hospice in Framingham Earl will be purpose-built to meet the increased demand for our service and the changing and more complex needs of the children and young people we care for.

Excitingly, we’ve just laid the foundations, having recently reached the £7m mark. This simply wouldn’t have happened without the backing of so many of you across Norfolk, and we really hope you’ll be on board to help us raise the remainder.

Whether you’ve taken part in one of our fundraising events, hosted your own, bought from or donated to our shops, or volunteered for us, you really have made a difference.

Many of our families will spend this festive period consoling, reflecting and going through a range of emotions but, with our support – mainly funded by you – also enjoying some of it.

We look forward to your continued support in 2018, our plans for which you can find out more about at www.each.org.uk.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

CAROL PLUNKETT

EACH Norfolk fundraising manager

Why is town being snubbed?

Can anybody tell me what Gorleston has done? Everything seems to be Great Yarmouth - the town centre uplift, skating rink, millions to uplift the market, the beer festival, waterways, Marina and Rows.

As a child I used to walk up the Rows at night to get chips. Row 44 had a lovely front room round table, a roaring fire and an elder gent smoking his pipe in his chair.

Gorleston has been the poor relation for years, my nan always said that.

NAME AND ADDRESS WITHHELD

Parking idiots got me annoyed

Now we have had pressies, the Christmas dinner etc. I would like to whinge about the numpties parked in disabled spaces, without blue badges last Friday at Tesco in Yarmouth. Thanks to you I had to park away and walk painfully a longer distance to the shop. One day I would love to have the authority to give you a fine.

ALEX JOHNSON Email

Social media is not a fair reflection

Something I notice all the time is the massive gulf between the intensely negative online social media comments about Yarmouth and what I see to be the current reality of lots of positive new investment in the town which seems to be largely derided as “too late - or a “waste of time”.

Things take so long that people can be excused for being a little cynical at times but if you actually take stock of what has been achieved in the past 15 years you can see it was all part of the ambitious “20/20 Vision” for Great Yarmouth developed in the late 1990’s by the borough council.

For tourism it saw the development of the Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority where holiday businesses took the lead. In the town centre the Town Centre Partnership saw the retail sector took a greater role.

On the seafront the Labour Government invested in a £15m revamp of the public realm there.

In the port we saw the construction of the Outer Harbour to provide deep water facilities to secure its future.

Without those new facilities Yarmouth would not now be enjoying the growth of jobs and investment in the renewable energy sector.

The 20/20 vision also called for the dualing of the Acle Straight and the construction of a third river crossing from the Harfreys Link Road into the South Denes. It has been a long time coming but we now have £98 million government investment in place to enable the opening of that new bridge in 2022 and Norfolk County Council has made the dualling of the Acle Straight its top priority for the 2020-25 highways programme.

The challenge now as we enter 2018 is to trigger discussion for the next phase - weighing up where local people want to see their town further developed for two decades on in 2040.

Work is taking place on the borough council’s new Masterplan for Yarmouth’s town centre and historic Market Place. The county council is doing major work on the town’s highways, roundabouts and on improving the area between the railway station and the Market Place. Next month work on the first part of the Edge casino development. It all takes time though but we must grasp the opportunities to make Yarmouth prosperous again for the future.

MICK CASTLE

County Councillor for Yarmouth North & Central