Letters, January 6 2017

It seems that scarcely a week goes by without a letter bemoaning the lack of progress on the Acle Straight appearing within your pages. Here is my suggestion to finally sort this out.

As the railway line to Norwich runs parallel to the A47 all the way to Acle, close it and lay a road on it. Since there is another line from Great Yarmouth to Norwich, which follows the north bank of Breydon Water, we would still have a direct rail link to Norwich.

Trains from Norwich would still run as far as Acle, and, with a little careful planning, a bus link might take passengers on to Great Yarmouth, and vice versa. Please forward the cheque for my consultancy fee to my account in Switzerland

BOB WARD

Email

Only dualling is answer to Straight

The Acle Straight A47 is a road I drive on every day from my home in Bradwell to Norwich and back for work and it’s simple really.

Lorries are 50mph; it’s a 60 mph road. Vans are 50mph; it’s a 60mph road. Coaches and buses are 50 mph; it’s a 60mph road. Tractors are 25-30mph; it’s a 60mph road.

And finally cars with caravans are 50mph on a 60mph road and once you are behind one of these vehicles in peak periods you are stuck and can become impatient and try to overtake to get passed. No amount of cameras, white lines, big signs or junction improvements are going to do anything but make the situation worse than it already is.

Dualling the road is the only way and if snails are preventing this happening then loss of life will continue until someone intervenes and over-rules this decision

PAUL MASTERS

Bradwell

Fed up with local public transport

What on earth happened to our local transport services over Christmas?

Surely First Bus and Greater Anglia can’t think everyone has cars in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston – or the villages? They should be aware thousands of people use public transport here but instead they continued to run a Sunday service on the Tuesday after Christmas because it was bank holiday.

Loads of people had to work that day and lots of my friends had trouble getting to and from their workplaces. Shops were open but there was a long wait for people to get into town to shop – unless you had your own transport.

I am fed up with how transport companies treat this town and how our councillors (and of course they all have cars and don’t use public transport along with the rest of us) are not doing anything to make our lives better. Let’s read it here: who of our councilors uses public transport on a regular basis along with us, the people who voted them into a job, and a nice financial allowance. I can guarantee there will be no letters next week from any of the 39 of them.

Politics is more important to them than people, they just want our vote when it comes to election time.

Name and Address withheld

Bigger bottleneck at the roundabout

Re the dualling of the rest of the A47 and especially the Acle Straight, there are two massive problems.

There will be an even larger bottleneck and tailback when the cars get to the Vauxhall roundabout. Also driving down the Acle Straight, if this was dualled, the mist/fog that comes off the mashes would, in my opinion, cause the multiple pile-ups we get on the motorways elsewhere.

VALERIE JORDAN

Email

Keep sending in the letters John

After reading your letters page I feel the need to respond to the comments referring to Mr John Cooper and the English.

I have known John for some years through contact between Caister Lifeboat service and his time in charge at the Seafarers Centre where he cared for many seafarers from all nations with great affection and love. He would visit them in hospital, comfort them in times of need and reunite them with family.

In my opinion people should take the letters in the context to which they are written. Keep up with the letters John, a lot of people I am sure back you 100pc with your thoughts on many topics. A happy new year to you.

DICK THURLOW

Jordan Road,

Caister

Ceramic rose dug up from grave

Did anybody see the lowlife digging up a ceramic rose on my husband’s grave at Caister cemetery about three weeks ago? I had it cemented on my husband’s grave almost 10 years ago as it was his favourite flower.

Before Christmas, my daughter and I took a wreath to place on his grave and I noticed it was missing. Whoever did this had tidied the green stones up so as not to look as if anything was missing.

I am 93 years old and this has upset me very much. I think the lowlife has done this before so if anyone knows anything or has had a similar thing happen please let me know.

VIDA HAYLETT

Caister

Our coastline is not waterproof

As much as we would like to put the Great back into Yarmouth; as much as we would like to spend a copious amount of money to achieve this, we are surrounded by water. We are an island.

At the last estimate we needed £500m to protect our coasts from flooding. On top of this we have domestic flooding calling for millions of pounds.

In the year 2008, Natural England suggested surrendering 25 square miles to flooding. We are full of good intentions but we are not waterproof.

There is talk now of a masterplan leading to a new-look town centre. Marvellous, but no word of who is to finance it! Meantime we are all getting our feet wet. We must interest the county council in our plight! A bit outspoken, but who better to say it than me?

JACK DYE

Gonville Road,

Gorleston

Winter Gardens is a chilling sight

I went for a walk along the seafront on Monday this week; it was beautiful but a bit cold. However, the most chilling sight was the Winter Gardens and the state it is in and do you know, I can’t remember not seeing it in a dilapidated state now.

I think the council should just get rid of it, heritage or not.

It is not doing anything to make the seafront attractive, in fact it is just the opposite and has been so for many, many years. It will be a total waste of money to do it up.

Had it been maintained in the past then the costs would not be as high and I wonder if our borough councilors think about the future or whether everything is done for the here and now.

There are many existing councillors who would have been involved in the “do nothing now” or “we can’t afford to do anything” decisions; and several still alive in the borough who should be hanging their heads in shame.

Get rid, dismantle, open up the seafront and please do not replace with anything else, let us see the sea from the road for a change instead of filling the whole of Marine Parade with no sight of the sea and beach.

I despair of our planners, they are leaving no legacy except tat.

D HASLAM

Email

Potters show was a Christmas treat

I feel I must write to ask you to include this letter in the Great Yarmouth Mercury to sing the praises of the Potters Theatre Company.

Having recently attended the Christmas Spectacular put on by the company at Potters Leisure, I wish to thank and congratulate the whole team on such a fabulous show. From the producer, the young child actors, the singers, dancers, the technicians with their stage effects, in fact the whole presentation who brought to life the simplistic meaning of Christmas with a great storyline that brought tears to many eyes.

My partner and myself have attended many shows both locally and in West End theatres and in our opinion, the Potters Theatre Christmas show wouldn’t go amiss on any of these glittering stages.

Once again a brilliant production, brilliantly acted by the youngsters, brilliantly sung and danced. Thank you Potters Theatre Company, it helped to make our Christmas great.

MIKE ELKINS

Hopton

Be proud of our NHS staff at JPH

Six weeks ago I had a fall in my kitchen which resulted in my being hospitalised and a repair carried out on the neck of the femur.

I feel must praise our NHS for the treatment I received, and for which I am eternally grateful, from the moment the ambulance arrived after about ten minutes, to the A&E department and the surgeon who put me back together the next day.

All staff on ward 7, from the eagerly awaited tea lady first thing, to the cleaners, auxiliaries and nursing staff always had a smile however busy they were, and they were extremely busy, and I think we should all be proud of our NHS staff and the James Paget Hospital.

JEAN HOUGHTON

Email

Nursing home care appreciated

A big thank you to Christine Morgan and all her lovely staff at Claremont Nursing Home in Caister for all the help in getting my husband Paul well enough to come home, and not just for Christmas. The care and dedication of the staff is wonderful not just for the residents but also family and friends who visit. The entertainment is brilliant.

It’s not easy when a loved one has to go into care whether it be long or short term, but for me and my family the Claremont is a very clean, happy and friendly place and that’s due to Christine and her staff.

BRENDA and PAUL WILKINSON

St Hugh’s Green,

Gorleston

Doh! The clue is in the ‘straight’ name

How many times do readers have to repeat for the benefit of slow learners, that a dead straight road cannot in itself be dangerous.

Anyone who cannot travel between Acle and Yarmouth safely is probably not fit to drive anywhere. If dangerous driving can be proved he/she should be given a long ban if not banned for life as genetically incompetent.

Details of the causes of accidents are not readily available so effective solutions are difficult to determine. Local solutions such as a few more road signs are unlikely to make drivers safer unless flashing lights are involved.

A reduced speed limit should be obvious and more clearly defined road margins might help for night drivers - the cats eyes and the “grey” white lines can be almost invisible in places. Lapses in attention, especially when the views are good, may be as much at fault as dangerous driving. Paradoxically the introduction of a few slight curves where the verges are wide enough may be an aid to concentration.

But much of the problem is likely to be a creeping increase over the years of contempt for rules of the road and driving manners; much has changed since the days when cyclists would stop at a halt sign even when the roads were empty. Now even pedestrians walk out in front of cars and drivers blatantly ignore red lights. How can they be expected to heed laws about mobile phones?

A frightened police force and judicial system are partly responsible for this. They are probably afraid of being called fascists. Favouritism plays a part; can it really be true that in Oxfordshire some motorists have up to 60 points on their licences but have yet to receive a penalty notice?

When East bound traffic builds up at Runham in summer it should not be too difficult to organise a diversion at Acle.

Platitudes about being more important than snails do not help. Of course they are but to people rare snails are more important than a few drivers who cannot set off a few minutes earlier to arrive at work on time.

For those living in the extremities of the town who are worried by the Acle Straight there are two other routes to Norwich, via Haddiscoe and Ormesby, both relaxing and years ago the preferred routes for many driving to Carrow Road for the match.

Millions spent on dualling the road would be as wasteful as HS2. It would benefit only a few by saving them a few minutes and enabling them to make their mark on the landscape. The money would be better spent on other improvements: filling in pot holes and erecting clear signs for road names come to mind.

Mr Fakes is still worried about the so-called second river crossing. He need not worry - it will never be built, certainly not to serve our small outer harbour or any offices which take up a lease on Peel Group’s land. Promises of money for feasibility studies are just pacifiers or sweeteners to keep people on-side at the next election.

A flyover need not be as expensive as he fears. Years ago the Royal Engineers built a flyover at the Gallows Corner roundabout on the Southend Arterial. Admittedly it has had problems but it was cheap and built quickly. The exercise could be repeated, if the army still has a Royal Corps of Engineers.

J F LAMBERT

Gorleston