Appalled to hear of centre closure

I was appalled to read of the proposal to close the Greyfriars walk in centre. Over 5,000 local residents plus countless visitors rely on this. Apart from the A&E at the James Paget Hospital, it is the only place where you can see a doctor at the weekends.

Ringing a tick-box NHS phone number is not the same as speaking face to face with a doctor. The person at the other end of the phone line is not able to see or feel your medical problem. In the end they will most likely suggest going to A&E or see your own doctor. How cost effective is that?

The surgeries in Great Yarmouth are already over-stretched, especially now with the merger of surgeries in Gorleston. You will now need to book weeks in advance to see a doctor - not very helpful if you have to work during the week.

The Greyfrairs Centre has been invaluable to working people like me. I do not have to take time off from work to see a doctor. I will now have to if these proposals go through.

This proposal by the Great Yarmouth and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group is just a cost-cutting exercise. They are putting money before people’s health. Shame on them!

NIGEL WILLIAMSON

Parkland Drive,

Bradwell

Daily scares get more ludicrous

To Remain is insane. Daily scares are getting more ludicrous; now pensioners will be £137 a year worse off, Osborne’s crystal ball is very precise, must have borrowed it from Gypsy Rose Lee.

We have suffered warnings about an economy meltdown, house price falls, one million lost jobs, nobody to trade with, asylum camps all over Kent, a Third World War and holidays will cost £230 more. Strikes me that nobody will be able to afford a holiday anyway.

The very rich will vote to Remain, the rest of us should vote Leave.

V CLARK

Email

Appeal to gun battery ladies

The Royal British Legion Great Yarmouth branch is calling for all ladies who manned anti aircraft batteries during the Second World War to get in touch.

Allen Bovill is travelling throughout the UK taking pictures of anti aircraft gun batteries and wants to hear where these ladies served, about the comradeship and what life was like, and hopefully photos from the time.

The project will show and explain how women contributed to the front line effort in keeping our shores safe. If anyone would like to contribute, please contact Allan on 07971 474562 or email allenbovill@hotmail.com

BOB FLEMING

Royal British Legion member

£8m is now to be swept aside

I am appalled at the article stating the closure of the Greyfriars health centre is up for discussion. £8m of public money has been invested and is now almost certainly to be swept aside as it is underused. Even our MP agrees with the decision!

There are such worthy causes locally that are desperate for funds to enable their valuable work for the community to continue; Centre 81 for instance that gives such great service for disabled members of the borough, which badly needs a new building as the present one is not big enough and is nearing the end of its useful life. What about the Louise Hamilton Centre? That £8m would have brought both these facilities into being!

BRENDA TAYLOR

St Georges Road,

Great Yarmouth

Doomsday fears the worst drivel

The latest Brexit fears seems to be our economy is going to crash, a huge recession will engulf the world and all of us will lose thousands of pounds and our livelihoods! This kind of fear is the worst drivel ever published since the invention of paper!

I’d like to point out to all readers that these doomsday scenarios were compiled by the IMF, IFS, CBI and even the Treasury. These same organisations advised Britain to join the ERM in 1992 which was promptly followed by a mini recession and billions of pounds of taxpayers money being lost to pump up the value of the pound. These organisations also advised if we didn’t join the Euro in 1999 we would be worse off and possibly have a recession. The result was an economic boom.

And finally these same organisations in 2007, when there was a fear of a global downturn, said housing bubble? Run on the bank? No way. The result was the worst recession in decades.

Another report has said Fiat cars will be 10pc dearer, French wine 6pc and German machinery up 8pc. Now I’m not being funny but we don’t produce Fiats or French wine so who’s economy will this hit? Another reason why the EU will want to do a trade deal with us!

We need the EU because it’s a market of 500m people apparently. Well, how about a trade deal with the Commonwealth of 1.6bn people, no pooled sovereignty, no overruling of laws and no free movement of people? How about a trade deal with the North American free trade agreement? 430m people, no loss of sovereignty, no contributions and no free movement of people! The options and possibilities around are huge and not reliant on the Eurozone.

All studies and reports have one thing in common, they all state the British economy will continue to grow once we leave!

At the end of the day the deal we get with Europe will be as good as our negotiators.

Our economy is dynamic, flexible and forward looking and if the pound contracts in value in the short term then there will more staycations, hence a boost for Great Yarmouth and also our exports will go up as our products will be cheaper so do not fear we will collapse into a Neanderthal squalor. I believe the opposite and exciting future lies ahead with friendship and trade with Europe but not controlled by Europe.

ANDY GRANT

Email

Thank you for removal of bus

First Bus are to be warmly congratulated in their removal of the use of Kennedy Avenue/Lowestoft Road and Mariners Compass for the No 8 route. This route used double-deckers quite unsuitable for this neighbourhood. There were eight (!) passing up and down every hour and they were nearly always empty..

Combine these buses with hospital and school parking and you have an intolerable traffic situation. As residents we send our congratulations to First Bus and our good wishes to the local council led by Graham Plant who will be moving with long overdue restrictions on parking along Kennedy Avenue.

These improvements (buses and parking plans) are the result of resident petitions and the attending of meetings with the council and the good work of East Norfolk Transport Users Association.

They are proof if we are patient democracy does work!

Name and Address withheld

Open surgeries not close them

The CCG is closing Greyfriars Health Centre. With millions of immigrants about to invade the country if the Remain loonies win the Referendum, surely we should be opening more surgeries not closing them. Belton surgery closed leaving the largest village in the country bereft of doctors.

Our MP Brandon Lewis supports Stay despite 8,000 rough sleepers on the streets of this country and 1.8m homeless and with little hope for young people who are unable to afford to buy and with no security of tenure if you rent. You could be next.

JANE WILDMORE

email

Campaign has become a farce

The Referendum campaign has turned into a farce. If the Prime Minister and his Remain supporters have their way we will be swamped within five years with on average 300,000 people entering this country every year not including any asylum seekers and refugees.

These numbers being based on the annual numbers of incoming EU citizens and others in the last few years.

This amount of immigration is somewhat fatal to our economy. Other countries such as the United States and Australia have in the past put very strict limits to immigration to safeguard their economies. The Remain campaign have ignored this.

Our economy will no doubt be swamped with cheap labour, housing will be at a premium due to a massive shortage, the health service will struggle with so many extra patients, schools will also be struggling with a massive influx. General services will struggle to cope.

This will have a dramatic downward spiral with the economy bringing on a possible recession. Exactly what the Remain group have accused the Leave group would happen if we leave. .

No doubt the Remain group have another agenda. Everything coming from them is based on speculative ideas on the economy with little or no real factual evidence to the contrary. They have not addressed one major problem which Mr Cameron said he was going to solve - the massive influx from the EU in the last few years. His hollow promises have been brushed aside.

Another cynical ploy by the Remain Group and the PM has been that extending those able to vote to people, or those with the right of abode in the UK, who are now living abroad and have been doing so for up to 15 years to vote by postal ballot. Perhaps the PM hopes those people will be more likely to support Remain.

The other problem is the 50,000 military personnel having been told they will be unable to cast a vote: So I have been informed.

The whole campaign has become a Project of Fear with little substance. ”The only fear we have to fear is fear itself.” Apologies to Franklin D Roosevelt.

Name and Address withheld

Greyfriars should be staying open

What was that joke about nobody going to such-and-such a nightclub anymore these days as it is always too crowded? I was reminded of it when I read the comment of Andy Evans, chief executive of the Clinical Commissioning Group, (Mercury, May 27), to the effect that the Greyfriars Health Centre “is not as well-used as it could be”, going on to quote some figures to support his statement.

The single time I visited the facility explains why he can get away with such a disingenuous assessment of the situation. Just as shown in your picture, the facility was spotless and well set out, the receptionist welcoming and friendly, but there was hardly a soul there.

The explanation was soon evident when we were told the minimum waiting time was two hours. You could not go away and return in two hours, and there was not a doctor to be seen - you can forget about triage and things like that.

So not really any different from the situation at the medical practice where I am registered, where a month before you can get an appointment is quite normal, doctors seem to be able to take leave and sabbaticals for months at a time, and the whole edifice would crumble were it not for the splendid team of practice nurses who keep the machine rolling with their efforts.

County Cllr Jonathan Childs is quite right about the difficulties of getting a doctor’s appointment in the borough.

Suggesting enhancement of the discredited NHS 111 helpline and expansion of the GP-led out-of-hours primary care service at the Paget, whatever that means, these so-called solutions show John Kenneth Galbraith was quite right when he said: “Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.”

MIKE SPRAGG

Collingwood Road,

Great Yarmouth

Most important: turn out to vote

As the referendum on membership of the EU approachesm please allow me to voice my opinion and view.

In a general election you vote for a government who I believe it is their duty to safeguard its citizens and the citizens to have a reasonable standard of living. If their duty is to look after its own citizens I ask the questions:

1 Why has Osborne with the backing of David Cameron increased the foreign aid budget by £5bn?

2 Whilst at the same time robbing people approaching retirement of £40,000 per five-year period?

3 Men and women born after April 5, 1955 will now have to work a further six years with no notice from the government.

This will affect thousands of people while at the same time foreign aid is increased by billions.

Most people born as baby boomers (in the 1950s) have paid into National Insurance which provides that pension for over 40 years, so I believe this is robbery to fund our current immigration problem.

There is a campaign online called WASPI and I believe one that is local. I urge the voter first to turn out to vote and secondly to vote Leave.

Please do not believe the alleged facts put out by Cameron and Co after all these politicians have personal fortunes and I believe won’t have to rely on an old age pension or other benefits so rightly “earned” by the working class.

LAURENCE MUFFETT

Shakespeare Road,

Great Yarmouth

Thanks for the votes for Labour

I would like to thank all the residents who voted in the local elections on May 5, especially those who voted for the 13 Labour candidates.

Cllr TREVOR WAINWRIGHT

Magdalen Ward,

Leader of the Labour Group

Clinic dealt with my wasp plight

I was very surprised to read the Greyfriars Clinic may be closed, both my husband and myself had very caring, helpful attention when we used this service.

Last summer we had a problem with wasps and I was stung, the wasps were also in my hair and I was unable to see if they had stung and if my hair was clear. I drove into Great Yarmouth and went to the Greyfriars Clinic where I was seen by a pharmacist who was very concerned and helpful.

The lady looked at my head and fetched cream which she said would remove the irritation. She could see I was upset by the experience and insisted on my sitting down and rubbing the cream on my head herself. I left the clinic very impressed and the cream was successful.

Earlier this year my husband hurt his back and was unable to obtain an appointment with our doctor. We decided to visit the clinic and once again we were impressed by the care and advice received.

As you will see from my address, we live in Ormesby and, if the clinic was not open, our nearest hospital is the James Paget which is a long drive and busy, when not feeling well. The clinic also saved James Paget from patients on these occasions and I know several other people in the area who have used this service, once again avoiding the drive to James Paget and causing crowding at the hospital.

Mrs L EVANS

Station Road,

Ormesby St Margaret

Road can’t take farm homes cars

I wrote to the borough council as soon as I heard about the Martham chicken farm planning application, pointing out the road access out of the area was already difficult. Fifty-five more houses even with just one car each could bring anger and frustration, not to mention more traffic coming from the other proposed developments in the village.

The B1152 is the main road through the centre of the village, all traffic from the Rollesby Road area whether turning left for Norwich or right for schools, doctors etc must join the B1152 there. In the last few years two new small groups of dwellings either side of the junction have added to the traffic.

The biggest problem is that the Rollesby Road joins the B1152 at an angle so traffic turning right tends to sit diagonally across the junction waiting for a gap - and just to add to the problem there is a pedestrian crossing 15 yards away. The left turners have to sit and wait!

More houses and more cars need more space, and as Cllr Tom Andrews (Caister) commented the infrastructure of a village needs to be appropriate for the development. Martham has grown quite quickly and needs careful thought before adding any more

Why could 20mph traffic calming measures be considered necessary or financially worthwhile as speed has never been an issue, and two of the three local roads mentioned are quiet village cul-de-sacs? If Highways have some spare money please use it to upgrade the B1152/Rollesby Road junction.

JILL SEARLE

Email

Clinic is valuable asset to borough

I was really saddened and surprised to read there are plans to close the Greyfriars walk in clinic in Great Yarmouth. It is a valuable resource everyone should fight to keep.

My family have used it on several occasions and always seen a doctor, despite sometimes having to wait a while. It was always a busy centre whenever I have attended and offered people the chance to see a doctor until 7pm rather than have to take time off from work.

The thing I never understood was it was never promoted enough. Whenever I have tried to get an appointment at Central Surgery, I have been told there were none available for three weeks and to try telephoning the next morning when emergency appointments would be released, on no occasion have I been told: “Why don’t you try the drop-in centre in Yarmouth.”

There are no posters about it in surgeries, dentists, pharmacies or libraries. If more surgeries actively advised there was an alternative to turning up at casualty in desperation with a sick child, then perhaps it would benefit everyone.

I urge everyone to support retaining this excellent service.

LINDA BARKER

Gorleston

Nobody wants village to grow

Re the proposed housing development in Martham. I don’t have particularly strong views myself, although when I read the article I was surprised there were only 15 complaints. This doesn’t reflect the massively overwhelming opinion in the village that people don’t want this to happen.

Everyone I speak to is against Martham growing, and not this development in particular.

The comment that the school can cope I also challenge; maybe it can cope from a financial and technical view, they get paid on a per student basis I believe so more children more money. However as a parent of two children at the school who are already in classes of 30-plus students, as well as the chaos that happens at drop off where there is inadequate parking even for the pupils, already there I disagree they can cope.

DANNY GOWING

Email

Who will care for the Waterways?

What a fantastic sight to see that the Waterways will at last be bought back to life; why let it get in the sorry state it did in the first place! And when it’s all blooming looking lovely, lights on at night or any lights at all? Who will then maintain it all year round to stop it getting in the sorry state again or was the question even asked?

Or are we going to just ask loads of volunteers to look after it all year round because after all, where’s the maintenance budget going to come from?

PAUL MASTERS

Bradwell

Are the ‘truths’ being bent?

I would not say those in Westminster are mendacious, but it is obvious “truths” are bent to suit a purpose.

Mr Cameron’s glib remark of a Third World War is just scaremongering; with what is currently going on in the world - Iraq, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, Russia and Ukraine, Eritrea, Africa and razor wire all over southern Europe - we are now a world at war.

The pound in your pocket, your pension, your mortgage payment will be no different when Britain exits to as it is now. What will happen will happen, Brexit or not.

Yes, Boris Johnson talked of Hitler; those of us who remember Lord Haw-Haw about Hitler’s plans to turn Europe into a Germanic Utopia would agree with Boris. Napoleon tried it before Hitler and a couple of thousand years ago the Romans nearly succeeded.

Fact: Net migration to the UK was 333,000 last year. I did not go to Eton, but to my simple mind there is an invading army of foreigners. Add our social problems ie housing health service, schools, to the £15.2bn grant aid we give to other countries it is no wonder indigenous Brits want to leave.

By staying in the EU Mr. Cameron, in his last chat with Brussels, agreed for all eternity to have our borders open to all migrants. And that is not all, it is agreed that the UK will accept Brussels (unelected highly paid bureaucrats) rulings on all matters legal. Even if the UK can justify barring someone dangerous, the European Court of Justice demands that we tell them why even if it endangers our national security.

Tory ministers campaigning to quit the EU said migrants - many of them from Eastern Europe - were driving down wages and putting huge pressure on public services. They said even more would come as a result of the new National Living Wage.

We currently house about 46,000 foreign criminals in our prisons and the EU stops us from deporting them to their point of origin.

Economic assumptions are guesses, what is sure if we stay in, NHS, schools, housing and doctor’s appointments will only get worse.

If you think things are bad now they will get much worse if we stay in Europe.

JOHN L COOPER

Burnt Lane,

Gorleston

Grateful thanks for saving life

On May 8, whilst at home I had a massive variceal bleed resulting in three paramedics attending who, without doubt, saved my life. I was taken to A&E at the James Paget Hospital and the staff continued to keep me alive, taking me to endoscopy where staff who were called in including Dr Zeino, placed six bands in the oesophagus to stop the bleed.

As I said these people without doubt saved my life and throughout were professional and compassionate to me. They deserve the highest praise for their actions. I was then taken to Ward 16 where the nursing staff continued in ensuring my recovery with replacing the blood and showing great compassion, professional nursing with some nurses in my opinion being angels including Emma Gough, who while having her own family health problems showed me sincerity, love and compassion.

I was discharged on May 14 and on May 19 had a consultation at Addenbrookes with Dr Mathew Hoare to be informed I have non alcoholic fatty liver disease resulting in cancer, possibly due to type 2 diabetes for 20 years.

I am now on a course for endoscopy at James Paget to eradicate further bleeding and at Addenbrookes for transarterial embolisation. It is my wish all those parties involved receive acknowledgement of their professional service to me during this time.

ROBERT ATYEO

Email

A safer area for pedestrians

Thanks to Cllr Graham Plant and the local council for getting the bus routes reduced for Kennedy Avenue. and making this a much safer area for pedestrians and schoolchildren from the three schools that use Kennedy Avenue daily.

Let’s hope we are as successful (with their help) in getting the parking restrictions in consultation at this time and the bollards required to protect our grass verges/pavements and for the residents safety from illegally parked vehicles.

Name and Address withheld

Listen to the local people

It seems very ironic the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has taken the decision to close the local walk in centre when the name suggests just that, walk in centre. It will mean the borough, and especially the area in Great Yarmouth where it is situated, will now be without the facility of having a 24-hour 7-day a week medical centre set up to provide such a service.

These centres were set up (1 in Norwich and 1 in Yarmouth) to supply those who could not get GP services and needing non-urgent care, to take away pressure from A&E at the local hospitals to which the CCG is now saying is not working. This facility was provided in an area of high deprivation, in the centre of a working town, and had car parking.

It is becoming increasingly clear that talk about listening to patients is just a tick box exercise when over the past year we have had a public consultation on where the patients want their GP practices to which placing one on the James Paget site was one the one least favoured but now we hear the CCG has gone against that and propose to put one there.

I think it is about time local health officials started listening to the local population and in listening, hearing what is being said and acting upon it, even though it might seem they might be deemed to doing something good for the patient, heaven forbid.

There is no bottomless pit of money but what monies there are have to be spent in a way that is in the long term sustainable and provides a suitable service for what is needed, and that is not on a hospital site.

PATRICK THOMPSON

email

EU will prevent another war

In my paper today it said there will be a commemoration of the World War One battle of Verdun on July 1. This was a battle in which millons died, including 20,000 British in one day.

In May 1940, our school had its sports day - the outstanding athlete was a sixthformer called Ken Chiltleborough. As a firstformer I greatly admired his performance but never met him socially. Little did I realise he would be dead before he was 21 in some battle or other. My 18th birthday came just as the war ended so I did my national service in peace time and I’m still alive, thank heaven.

When joining the EU when proposed I was in favour because I believed it would make another European war unlikely. I still believe it.

Among the countries in the EU there are some hard Right parties who also want to jump ship. Our leaving will encourage them. This would have a serious effect on the EU - does that matter? Does achieving Brexit override every principle - ask Boris.

LIONEL BALLS

Bure Close,

Great Yarmouth

Praise for the practice staff

I have just read your latest news on the closure of the Greyfriars practice. It astounds me to see the closure is still going ahead! There can be nothing but praise for the outstanding work done there.

Myself and other people are concerned as to when the photo showing an empty waiting room was taken... presumably out of hours, as never in the years has it been empty like that. It is always extremely busy and difficult to get an appointment, even as a walk in patient you have to wait often more than two hours!

How can it be said it is not used enough. It goes without saying that to put 5,000 plus patients onto smaller and already overstretched practices is mad! My husband who suffered a stroke has had expert and fantastic help from this practice which we both feel sure he would not have had from a smaller practice that would not be open the hours that Greyfriars is.

We hope and pray the decision is overruled and the practice stays open.

Mrs G HAZLEWOOD

email

Frighteners aimed at the young

I noticed the so-called impartial adverts on TV seemed to be aimed at the young of the voting spectrum. The government is obviously worried that people under the age of 40 don’t care about their country so they won’t bother to vote. That’s why all the financial frighteners are aimed at them and not the more cynical older generation.

M DIMMACK

Butt Lane,

Burgh Castle

Brave new world is beckoning

Firstly may I say a big thank you to the people of Ormesby St Margaret, Scratby and California and Ormesby St Michael for re-electing me as their borough councillor, it is a huge privilege to represent this area.

Although of course this election was for council, the question I was most asked during my campaign was my view on the EU referendum. I had suspected this would be an issue and had wanted to put a piece in my election leaflets, stating I was firmly in the Leave camp.

However, the Conservative Party nationally had told all its candidates they were not to express any view in election literature. It was stunning that a week after we were informed of this, they decided to spend £9.5m to put out a pro-Europe leaflet.

On June 23, all of us will be able to vote on what is probably the most important decision we will make in a generation. This vote will for the first time in over 40 years, cross all political views and boundaries.

I have been involved in business for over 40 years and in politics for 45 years. With reference to business, the burden of legislation placed on people like me directly emanating from the EU has been huge. Of course not all of it has been bad, however I would suggest 80pc has been, the costs to small business such as mine has been vast and could have been used for reinvestment and employment.

In politics I have visited both Brussels and Strasbourg on several occasions. Several years ago I, along with six others were flown by private plane across to Brussels to suffer the indignity of begging to an unelected bureaucrat for a tiny amount of the billions we pay into the EU for the benefit of Great Yarmouth.

On my visits it is more than clear these unelected people rule the roost. The vast majority do not recognise national sovereignty. They truly believe in a federal Europe, at least they are honest about it, which is more than can be said about our national politicians over the years.

Going back to Edward Heath who in 1973 took us in, to David Cameron, who tells us it will be the end of the world if we leave, and most PMs in between, we have been misled and I would venture to go as far as saying lied to.

What this was all about from the very start was a federal Europe. There have been so called “rebels”, two notable ones here in Great Yarmouth, former MPs Sir Anthony Fell and Michael Carttiss. Sir Anthony warned about loss of our control of our borders, the huge expense of Europe and virtual loss of sovereignty; Michael warned us after the Maastricht treaty, this would further erode our sovereignty. Both were suspended by the Conservative Party; both were correct.

In July my wife and I will become grandparents for the first time, and the vote is less about us and our generation. It is about my daughter’s and her child’s generation. If the vote is to remain in, Britain will sink faster and further into the abyss of a federal Europe, losing control of who makes our rules and our borders.

I have no doubt there is a brave new world if we vote to leave: ever increasing trading partnerships, where entrepreneurs will be able to work without the shackles of ludicrous regulations; where our elected government has ultimate control of our laws, and where we can control who comes into Britain.

The decision will be up to you, my only hope apart from a successful vote Leave result, is whatever the result it will be respected by all.

CHARLES REYNOLDS

email

Appalled at new homes for village

Returning from holiday I was appalled at the borough council’s decision to give outline planning for 55 homes on the chicken farm in Martham.

It seems the council thinks that by putting in traffic calming measures this will solve access problems etc for Acacia Avenue and Willow Way residents. As a lot of the residents have to park on the footpaths, has no consideration been given to wheelchair users who may want to use the footpaths especially at night as there is no street lighting on Acacia Avenue.

This road is only 4.8m wide and according to the residential road and footpath standards table 9 paragraph 6.5.1 says in the light of problems due to accessing drives and the inability to pass parked vehicles, in cul-de-sacs these roads should be 5.5m wide. As this road will now become a link road to the new estate it should be 6m wide.

Why is the council showing total disregard for these specifications derived from the Highway Agency? Also, all the extra traffic will have to access Rollesby Road either at the fire station junction where traffic queues to the street junction at the moment at peak times.

The junction at the fire station is already considered dangerous by local residents. The other exit means going round a sharp bend on Willow Way where vehicles park and it’s impossible to see what’s coming the other way. All these points seem to have been skirted round just to suit this application.

S ELLIOTT

Email

Help with links to First World War

My grand-daughter is 14 years old and very excited to be going to Belgium on a school-organised trip to visit Flanders fields, monuments and cemeteries.

To make the visit memorable to her so she could feel a family link to her two great grandfathers who both fought in the First World War, I wanted to obtain their service histories, but without knowing their regiments or Army numbers I have had no luck. Could I appeal to all First World War medal collectors to check to see if they have medals for James McLennan and Charles Mantrippe. They were both from the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston area. As a family we were lucky they both came home. I would be very grateful for help and I can be contacted on juvidwood@hotmail.co.uk

JUNE WOOD

Email

Hair-brained white elephant plan

Where do we get these people? Heritage experts, preservation trusts, economic development committees? And they come up with let’s spend £1.3m on some hair-brained white elephant The Waterways.

They want to turn back the clocks to 1928 when it was built and try and make it look the same, not look at the mess these same people let it get into. They say it’s the only one in the UK and can’t even figure out why.

No-one wants it, only heritage experts and backward looking councils. They will get a lot of poor volunteers to do all the work under the guise of teaching them and when it’s all done go back to the town hall to have their photos taken and pat each other on the back.

Of all the things you could do with that sort of money you want to waste it on a white elephant that’s had its day.

MIKE RAWLINSON

email

Slow creation of

a US of Europe

I don’t as a rule bother to vote, but I will be voting in the coming referendum. For me, two things have become very obvious.

Firstly it has always been known that politicians make claims to the general public but they have always hidden behind the confusion of party politics where one side claims to be telling the truth while the other side was said to being economical with the truth.

That has been exposed now that Conservatives are openly calling into question their party colleagues statements, even among cabinet members. Never trust them again.

The second thing that has become so obvious is how little politicians truly know about the actual workings of the EU, either the good or the bad. This is why they really don’t know what will happen if we leave. But I doubt it will result in a Third World War.

What will happen if we stay in however, will be the slow creation of the United States of Europe, which is the ultimate aim of those in power. This will be our one and only chance for independence, so please vote to leave.

DAVE GAHAN

Havelock Road,

Great Yarmouth

‘Border’ crossing bus pass shock

I am a carer for my visually impaired mum. Every week for the last two years we have travelled from Gorleston High Street to Tesco at Pleasurewood Hills to do her weekly shopping.

Today, May 31, we got on an X1 to travel home to be told carers cannot travel in the Suffolk area on the holder’s bus pass. I was then charged £3.70 to bring my mum home with her shopping.

I understand from Norfolk County Council I can go with my mum anywhere, only in Norfolk, on her bus pass. My mother can travel all over the country but her carer has to pay for her travel outside Norfolk. What a shame I am not over 60 to get a bus pass and travel where I want to go. My mum would not be able to travel without a carer or companion. Maybe because she is 77 and visually impaired she is expected to stay in all the time and not enjoy her life or have days out.

Name and Address withheld

It’s terrible the

No 7 not running

I am writing this letter with regards to the No 7 bus being out of use during the daytime. It is terrible it will not be running during the day, a more demanding time for all of us in Belton, Bradwell and Burgh Castle. We rely on that transport.

The stopping of the service cuts us off from our surgery ie Falkland Surgery, the pharmacy to pick up our prescriptions, and also our dental treatment, let alone the schools that are involved on this route!

As it is, people have to plan their days according to what time their appointments are. To cut us off completely is not on!

It’s about time more thought and consideration be put into this, especially regarding senior citizens who won’t have any transport of their own and again rely on public transport – the No 7 bus!

Mrs V HOPE

Belton

Simple solution to No 7 bus service

I don’t think I’ve seen this option to date, but is this too simple? What’s wrong with keeping the No 7 service as it was? As the A143-A12 link road doesn’t serve anywhere, the original service to Belton only needs access to the link road to the second roundabout to cover the forthcoming housing estate, then do a u-turn round that roundabout, and continue on to Belton as before.

The return journey to Yarmouth could do the same in reverse with only a few extra minutes to massage into the timetable. Why inconvenience so many people, or is it a case of saving a couple of vehicles?

C HOPKINS

Bradwell

Who decided to change buses!

I really would like to know what bright spark came up with the idea of changing all the buses around. Did someone in an office think let’s drive customers up the wall? The No 2 is now a No 9, which goes into Yarmouth and stops at the Troll Cart, where you have to get a No 2 to the Pleasure Beach.

I have just got off the bus here at Trinity Avenue in Gorleston after waiting an hour in town and I missed an appointment. I have never seen so many people waiting for buses.

Pushing in gets to me, but people do not know where their buses are. The Belton bus, don’t get me started on that is now X11!

Mrs THERESA WHITMORE

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