Letters - October 10, 2014

A borough-wide strategy review is underway. The review includes all outdoor playing pitches and facilities, indoor provision, such as swimming pools, sports halls, and fitness gyms, and children’s play, parks and open spaces.

The Beaconsfield and Wellesley recreation grounds are in my ward and in order for me to provide an informed response to the survey I would like residents and users of the open spaces and play areas in the ward in which I represent - Central and Northgate to let me know their experience of the play, sport and leisure facilities in this area.

What they would like to see added, such as all weather pitches, better provision for specific sports / leisure pursuits, more challenging play equipment and whether the existing provision should be changed/reduced and/or managed differently.

Whilst I’m encouraging residents to let me know their thoughts so I can make an informed response I would also encourage all residents to respond directly to the survey. Please contact me by emailcllr.lee.sutton@great-yarmouth.gov.uk or phone me on 07587 297598.

LEE SUTTON

Central and Northgate ward councillor

Bin charges are paying twice

I agree with Alan Marsham about why we would have to pay for a new bin. I don’t think we should have to pay for bins, we pay for the recycling service in our council tax so the bins should be free and so should the garden bags that they are offering instead of a brown bin for our garden waste.

The council state on their website that the garden waste produces harmful greenhouse gases in landfill, that’s why they don’t want it in the grey bins, but that also comes under what we pay our council tax for, refuse collection, street cleaning and environmental health, so we’re being asked to pay twice for the service.

There is a possibility of fly-tipping garden waste now, people who can’t afford or won’t pay for the brown bin or the bags will now think about dumping their garden rubbish over a fence or in an alleyway where it possibly won’t be bothered about. There are plenty of places in Yarmouth where this can happen which the council just ignore and let get overgrown anyway. Leaves won’t be picked up, grass won’t be cut, weeds will be left to grow and they’ll be a lot of gardens that will look unsightly, still some are like that all the time, just more will follow suit.

I’ve just cut my grass and until I get the bags I will now have to buy bags although I really can’t afford them, the grass cuttings etc., will have to go in a plastic bin bag. The garden bags are cheaper than a brown bin and I certainly don’t want three bins in my garden and my garden is too small to bother with composting. Thankfully it’s nearly winter and most of the gardening is done except for one last lawn cut and a bit of weeding and trimming of plants.

P LONG

Email

Thank you all for Michael’s show

Janet, Colin and Sophie would like to give thanks to all those involved in the show which took place at The Pavilion Theatre, Gorleston on Saturday September 27 to remember Michael, a much loved son and brother.

The magnificent sum of £2800 was raised to be divided between the East Anglian Air Ambulance and the restoration fund for The Pavilion Theatre.

There are too many people to thank individually, but a special thank you must be given to Jayne King who co-ordinated the programme, Michael Timewell who compered the evening and organised the publicity, Kevin and Stuart who gave the use of the theatre for free and to all those who donated the fantastic raffle prizes.

Without their support and the commitment of the performers, back stage and front of house people, such a brilliant show would not have been possible.

Thank you for taking part and also to those who were in the audience we hope you enjoyed the evening.

JANET HODDS

Email

Should I worry about changes?

Should we read anything into the fact that the whole retail side of Yarmouth business has been moved onto the western side of the river? Literally out of the borough of Great Yarmouth.

Banking, however, has been moved into a more compact group, more central, onto the eastern side of the river.

Could something be afoot that we ought to know about? After the fiasco of the Outer Harbour, I get a bit fidgety, especially if thinking about the regional changes. There must have been a big investment of money over the river with some title to it?

JACK DYE

Gorleston

Little defences tell own story

Some people drive to and fro along the Acle Straight or on a train. In this year of reminders about 1944 do they know a clue to those times?

A Pill Box, as they were called, may be easily seen. Had the tide of war taken a different turn on our fairly vulnerable coast these isolated little defences backed up by a Dad’s Army would have bravely tried to delay any invasion force.

ROY WALDING

Mill Lane,

Bradwell

Super afternoon to remember

Last Wednesday October 3 we spent a very rewarding afternoon at Claremont House, a care home in Caister. The event was organised by Sue Campbell-Bannerman the activities co-ordinator for a group of care homes in the area - to remember those lost in the Great War of 1914-1918. The home was decorated with flags and even a wooden model of a First World War plane. There was a display of memorabilia, letters, photographs and First World War posters.

The staff and the residents were dressed in black and red, many wearing poppies and Union Jack hats. Sue and her partner Kevin provided music and song.

The staff all gave their time - also Sue who no doubt spent many hours of her own time getting the whole event together.

So, many thanks for her and the staff and everyone else involved to make this an afternoon to remember.

A MCSTEEN

Bradwell

Do you recollect Stracey pump?

I am researching Second World War use of buildings in the Acle area and would be interested to hear from anyone who can recollect the Stracey Windpump when it was converted for use as a pill box. Please contact me on 01493 750039.

BRIAN GRINT

25, Springfield

Acle

NR13 3JW

Wrong to add name to register

I was quite incensed by the letter I received from the council telling me that my name had been placed on the electorial register and also the open register which I am led to believe can be sold for junk mail purposes.

Surely this should be an option before adding anybody not a given practice?

I would have thought that this constitutes a breach of data protection which my company is signed up to. I think it would be illegal for me to sell this kind of information about my customers.

The older person who does not have access to or indeed doesn’t want to be involved with computers probably doesn’t realise that they have to cancel their name from the open register or risk their information being sold.

MIKE SMITH Email

Amnesty painted me as a pariah

As part of its recycling revolution our dynamic council has decided to declare hazardous waste amnesty days for depositing unused paint at the recycling centre.

For amnesty, read pardon so the terminology will make me feel that I ought to wear dark glasses and a false beard when next I take the remains of my Dulux to Caister after having tarted-up the bathroom and hall. Paint happens, every day, and we shouldn’t be made to feel like pariahs for using it.

I wonder, when the next town hall has a paint job, if the unwanted paint will be left in the mayor’s chamber until the next amnesty.

As the council has identified paint as a hazardous substance surely it would seem to be essential to have maintained the former system of having a designated and controlled paint deposit area available seven days a week. But, I believe that I smell cost-cutting here.

What next? Don’t let on that you got it from me, but I do believe the council is about to announce that citizens will be allowed to take their garden waste to the recycling centre on specified ‘Green’ days only and will hand-out Asbos to those who try to sneak in at other times.

PAT PHILPOTT

High Street,

Gorleston

Why do we have to pay for bins?

I think garden rubbish being banned from black bins is ludicrous. It is a landfill better than anything else.

Is this just another con from the council? Lincs, Yorkshire, Suffolk and parts of Norfolk all have brown bins so why not Great Yarmouth? Why do we have to pay for everthing? The charge for the bags for gardens is stupid. All it is doing is encouraging fly tipping.

We have to pay for a brown bin, then pay to have it emptied. Stop wasting money on the seafront and give us free bins like everywhere else.

You will probably say they are charged to keep community tax down. But by the end of the summer, if you have a large garden, you will have paid it anyway.

O JOHNSON

Rambouillet Close,

Gorleston

Chuffed with my lovely free wee!

Would you please be so kind as to allow me, via your letter’s column, to pass on my thanks to the people who clean and maintain the toilets on the sea front at the back of the leisure centre?

I wanted to ‘spend a penny’ while out enjoying the wonderful Yarmouth sunshine on Sunday morning while on a visit to Yarmouth.

At London Waterloo Station it costs 30p (six bob in old money) to use the toilets. Before using the toilets I checked that I had a some change - not wishing to get caught out! Not only was I not charged for using the facilities I found them spotlessly clean with soap in the soap dispensers and hand driers that actually work.

Thank you and well done to the people who work so hard to keep the toilets clean and in good working order.

PAUL THURTLE

Waverley Drive

Chertsey

Surrey

Paying to park is false economy

I read with interest the comments in the letters page of this paper last week about parking charges in Great Yarmouth. I agree that it is common sense that the current attitude of the council towards car parks is damaging our town and the businesses in it.

The currently labour administration’s focus on wringing every last penny from charges merely results in less people using the car parks making it even harder for local shops to thrive.

Ultimately they will end up losing businesses and then losing the business rate income on which councils are now funded and we the residents will then lose out again.

On this issue it is clear that one party has the best track record and it is not as outlined in the letters page by Mr Wright last week, it is the Conservatives.

Our local Member of Parliament, Brandon Lewis, has consistently called for parking charges in Yarmouth to be reduced and free parking to be used more. As a minister he has also had a practical impact on this issue, drastically changing the rules of local government to make it easier for councils to cut charges and has been reported in press and TV widely arguing for lower parking charges to help boost town centres.

Councils are now rewarded if they boost businesses. This view is also shared by the local Conservatives who campaigned last election on bringing in free parking in the town centre. Even better, they are working for the business case for it now at the council. I hope Mr Wright will now congratulate those who are doing things, not just take up space with misleading information.

Words are nice but action is more important. If you want cheaper parking in Great Yarmouth, it is the Conservatives we need to support.

BRIAN DOLTON

Email

Politics should be about people

I am a politician. No please don’t stop reading or throw your paper in the bin. It’s something I’m just coming to terms with myself.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a doctor or a singer. I didn’t study politics and my only involvement was walking to the polling station with my mum.

It was while working for a children’s charity I wised up. I realised that politics was everywhere. It was the most powerful tool to change lives and change the world.

Politics created the NHS, it banned slavery and got women the vote. At it’s greatest it is a force for good. This is why I am so angry when politicians forget what it is they do. It isn’t about them, or me. It is about the people they represent.

Whether you are a local or national politician I hope you remember that.

My name is Lara Norris and I am a politician. I intend to make that a thing of pride and I will not accept any politician in our town that doesn’t.

LARA NORRIS

Prospective parliamentary candidate for Labour

Roadworks will disrupt buses

Owing to road works on Brasenose Avenue, Gorleston, buses will be diverted on Saturday, October 11 and Sunday, October 12, Saturday October 18 and Sunday, October 19 between 9am and 4pm each day.

During this period the X1 will operate between Gorleston High Street and James Paget Hospital via Church Lane, Middleton Road and Lowestoft Road. All stops on Middleton Road will be served.

Service 2 will operate as normal to Selwyn Road, then the whole length of Trinity Avenue, right onto Magdalen Way to terminate at the bus stop on Magdalen Square.

On the return journey from Magdalen Square the 2 will operate via Hertford Way, right into St Annes Crescent, then as normal.

On Saturdays, Service 8 will operate as follows: Journeys from Caister at 11 and 41 minutes past the hour will operate as normal to Gorleston, Church Lane, then via Middleton Road, Lowestoft Road and Bridge Road, then as normal route to James Paget Hospital, returning by the same route.

All stops on Middleton Road will be served.

Journeys from Caister at 26 and 56 minutes past the hour will operate as normal to Gorleston, Magdalen Way, then right into Trinity Avenue, left into St Anne’s Crescent and left onto Hertford Way, terminating at the lay-by on Hertford Way. Return via normal route.

An additional shuttle service will run every half hour between Hertford Way and Gorleston High Street to allow passengers to transfer to other services.

On Sundays, all journeys on Service 8 will operate via Middleton Road, with a half hourly shuttle service between Hertford Way and Gorleston High Street. Temporary timetables can be viewed at www.firstgroup.com

We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause for our passengers.

DANNY BEALES

Operations Manager

First Eastern Counties (Great Yarmouth depot)

Fond memories of boating lake

I was brought up in the Salisbury Road area in the 50s and 60s and have fond memories of the Boating Lake. I remember it in its heyday when it was well looked after with its attractive flower beds. Relatives would come and spend hours sitting in the sunshine in the summer months. We would enjoy many a ride in the pedal boats.

It was sometimes sad to see it deteriorate in recent years. I think it could be restored to its former glory as the infrastructure is still there and with a bit of imagination it could be improved. That part of the front does need improving to attract more visitors. We notice that the car parking in that area is shunned by most visitors presumably because of the cost and it must be hard for the cafes to make a decent living. Yes, I look forward to the next chapter in the life of the Boating Lake!!

RUSSELL UNWIN

Email