Your views on rubbish in Terrington St Clement and regulations in Hunstanton
Here are the letters published in the December 29 edition of the Lynn News...
No clue at all in regulating major issues
Governments have repeatedly tried to brainwash us into having houses built at all costs. Yet affordable housing is not being prioritised.
Contractors are still paying lip service and putting the minimum number in the outlying corners of their developments.
House prices are exacerbating the economic divide. I would suggest that a major contributor to current hardship is not the rise in interest rates as some would say, but the enormous amount people have had to borrow to afford to get on the housing ladder.
A set of dominoes that is now starting to fall, as now it is more obvious mortgage holders were fooled into thinking they could afford to.
The interest rate is normal now, not the cheap rates of the recent past. How responsible has the government and the banking sector been in allowing huge borrowing?
Let the government explain the real reasons for (more expensive) private house building, and local councils, please do not concede to government bullying.
The government says it isn’t directly responsible for everything but its lack of a clue on how to regulate issues costs everyone.
From paying for market failure in the energy industry, to a lack of cohesive introduction to electric cars.
Privatisation isn’t a panacea, but it is surely economic madness to lump every energy user with £200 per year standing charge before they pay for their gas and electricity. Especially as we are leaking the public’s money to shareholders.
Talking of leaking, there is the parallel issue with water companies. And who is paying their fines? Back to lack of transparency and integrity.
Robert Gardner
South Wootton
Does village not have a volunteer group?
I recently visited Terrington St Clement and had a walk around the village.
I was shocked at the amount of drinks cans dumped in the dykes and drainage ditches.
The bushes and hedgerow opposite the entrance to Alma Road has been used as a dumping area.
I do hope the developer will improve and clear away the fly tipping.
Does the village not have a volunteer group to help the parish council clear the dykes and ditches?
Surely all residents and parish councillors can’t be oblivious to the amount of rubbish in the streets around the village.
Ian Williams
via email
The council is there to serve
Yet again West Norfolk Council finds itself in the front page of the Lynn News (December 19) for the wrong reasons.
A seafront trader at Hunstanton could not serve up doughnuts to Christmas Day swimmers and seasonal tourists because of pedantic bureaucracy.
The council which is there to serve will provocatively not see Rebecca Terrey, who justifiably seeks explanations.
Oblivious to council staff in secure occupations, there are jobs at risk and peoples' lives are needlessly being made a misery.
The rhetoric of flood risk restrictions has become a worn-out cliche.
There are no tangible reasons for the killjoys, unemployable elsewhere, to procure Christmas ill will.
It all smacks of the idiosyncratic health and safety syndrome being petty and spiteful.
It is the pantomime season where we send our talent to the Princess Theatre, Hunstanton and our comedians to West Norfolk Council.
David Fleming
Downham
Do something for those who voted for you
I note my MP Liz Truss has waded into the debate regarding 'trans' issues for schoolchildren and while I have no experience of this phenomenon, I'm hoping Ms Truss isn't using this unhappy, problematic, and controversial subject merely as a platform for a bit of 'headline grabbing' political manoeuvring for her own bizarre ends. With a thousand things needing sorting in her chosen constituency of South West Norfolk I wonder why she's chosen to get involved in this debate which seems to divide opinions in all quarters.
I'm also hoping she has a deeper understanding of the complexities of gender and social transitioning than she showed as prime minister when her bumptious insistence upon the adoption of her embarrassingly calamitous 'Trussonomics' still has millions of family finances reeling today.
Why doesn't she leave the 'big stuff' to those who know what they're doing and focus on her constituents' desperate problems with village flooding, threatened school closures, poor communications from roads to phone and Internet connections and rural crime and rural job opportunities?
I know they're boring and won't get your name in the press but it's what we voted for and what we pay you to do.
Come on Liz... admit defeat... you aren't cut out for the top table so please let it go and get involved in something which might practically benefit those ordinary people who voted for you.
Steve Mackinder
Denver
A tough year for dog lovers
I wanted to send a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported Dogs Trust during what has been another challenging year for pet owners across the UK.
We have received more than 40,000 enquiries this year from people who sadly felt they had no other option but to hand their dog into our care.
As a dog owner myself, I understand only too well what a heartbreaking decision it can be to have to give up your dog, which is why we have tried to support as many dog owners as possible through initiatives including our pet food banks and free-to-access Behaviour Support Line.
Despite the many challenges we’re still facing, it heartens me to say that we also continue to witness the best in human nature from our dog loving nation.
This year we have found homes for over 10,000 dogs of all breeds and ages, including almost 400 puppies born in Dogs Trust’s care.
To everyone who has welcomed a new four-legged friend into their family by adopting from Dogs Trust, thank you.
Earlier this year we issued a plea for more volunteer foster carers to come forward to offer temporary homes to some of the dogs in our care. Kind-hearted members of the public responded in their thousands, and we are now able to offer many more dogs somewhere safe and secure to stay while they wait their forever home.
Other volunteers continue to support our work by taking on incredible fundraising challenges and by regularly giving up their time to support the staff at our rehoming centres. It simply would not be possible to achieve all that we do for the dogs in our care without this support – so thank you.
As we approach a new year, our dedicated staff and volunteers remain committed to making tomorrow’s world a better place for all dogs so they can live full, safe and happy lives.
On behalf of everyone at Dogs Trust, I’d like to wish all our supporters a very Happy New Year, one in which we look
forward to helping many more dogs find their forever homes.
For further information about our work and our dogs, please go to our website: www.dogs trust.org.uk
Owen Sharp
CEO, Dogs Trust
