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Your letters, April 22
Your opinions, April 22
Appalled at paintballing staff
Dear editor, as a tenant of Chorley Community Housing I was appalled to read your front page article (Guardian April 8) about staff from CCH having a fun day out paintballing.
The rent on my property has increased by approximately 17 per cent in the last two years - is that what they use the money for?
If, like me, tenants had voted against the takeover this sort of thing would never have happened as we would have been able to complain to our local councillor and Chorley Council would be accountable for their actions.
As it is now, who do we complain to?
K Bradley
Beaconsfield Terrace
Chorley
Prepared to do the time
Dear editor, after reading your article headed 'I'll turn my life around' (Gaurdian April 15) I felt compelled to write in as I have a particular loathing of drug peddlers.
These articles, like others I've read over the past months, fail to reflect or mention the seriousness of the crime Louise Marsden committed.
She has got off lightly for the crime of dispersing misery, addiction, and the after effects we all suffer with drugs. And for what? A good holiday and several hundred pounds in cash.
Louise and her family must consider themselves lucky she didn't get five-15 years.
No matter what reason people give for smuggling drugs, they know it's not right.
We have all been educated over the years about drugs and the effects on society in many ways.
Just because Louise is a young mother, shouldn't be reason for leniency in any country.
If you're prepared to do the crime, you should be prepared to do the time and she obviously wasn't thinking of her daughter when she was committing this offence.
Jim Donnellon
Coppull
Prepare yourself
Dear editor, I read with interest your article about the Wainhomes development on Lancaster Lane, in Clayton-le-Woods (Guardian April 15).
I'm not surprised nobody from Wainhomes was available for comment.
They are surprisingly coy when it comes to facing the local community into which they are shoe-horning their developments.
Alas, from sad experience, I can tell (Lancaster Lane resident) Mrs Smith exactly what the true impact will be over the coming months.
Firstly, do not expect to receive any communication from Wainhomes that work is starting near to your home or that they should apologise for any inconvenience that may be caused.
This is especially so if they have to dig up your road to access the drains.
I would also place a bet on the fact that no provision in the planning permission has been made for the sub-contractors to have somewhere to park – so they may well block pedestrian/vehicular access by half parking on the pavement alongside the development.
You may also wish to pray that the land on which the blot is to appear does not need to be piled otherwise you will have a couple of extra weeks of sustained noise and vibration.
Download Chorley Council's own 'code of practice for construction and demolition' for reference and take plenty of photographs of the work in progress and keep to hand the telephone numbers of all relevant departments as you may need to contact them over the coming months.
Bernadette Doyle
Olive Close, Whittle-le-Woods
Pubwatch pass rate
Dear editor, I'm responding to your article (Guardin April 15) about the new scheme whereby some pub and off licence staff caught selling alcohol to under 18s are being offered the chance of an alcohol awareness court as an alternative to an 80 fixed penalty fine.
The members of Pubwatch were offered funding in March 2007 by the MAPS team as part of an initiative to promote the alcohol harm reduction strategy.
This basically involved sending our staff on a training course about responsible alcohol retailing.
There was an 80 per cent take up by bar staff and licensees from our town centre pubs.
Of those who attended and took the exam at the end of the course, there was a 100 per cent pass rate - a statistic our licensees can be proud of.
This clearly demonstrates that Pubwatch members take their role of selling alcohol responsibly, very seriously indeed.
Peter Verhaege
Licensee Applejax, Chairman Chorley Pubwatch
Bus costs a smokescreen
Dear editor, after reading the recent piece on concessionary bus costs and as a transit coach driver in the US, I find it hard to understand the logic the bus companies are using.
A typical double-decker weighs about 40,000 lbs. It runs about half full most of the time, say 35 passengers, weighing about 6,300 lbs.
How can the operators separate the incremental cost of operation if 10 OAPs (1700 lbs) get on for free?
Is the fuel consumption affected by such a small percentage increase in gross weight?
Does it cost more for the driver's salary as a function of the number of passengers?
Is the insurance cost increased as a function of load factor?
No, it's a total smokescreen.
If a particular run of a bus is usually full then the concessionary fares shouldn't displace full fare passengers, but how many runs in the time-frame that the OAP free trips are valid are more than half full?
Trying to claim 'loss of revnue' is a totally false claim.
The bus companies should be ashamed of demonising the old folks.
Frank Damp
Anacortes
USA
Residents will be hit
Dear editor, I would like to reply to the story about the planned yellow lines in the Mayfield estate, Leyland (Guardian April 15).
When I applied for planning permission to extend my home, it was granted only on condition that I provided an extra parking space on my land to make up for that lost with the building. That seemed fair and reasonable.
Why then did South Ribble Borough Council, the same authority, not make Runshaw College make good the parking spaces lost when they extended their college and built on their car parks?
Planning permission should have been conditional on the provision of adequate parking.
Now we have the prospect of Mayfield and other estates being painted with yellow lines which will adversely affect residents but will not resolve the problem. Students will park elsewhere and more yellow lines will be painted there. The council will never win!
The proposal for parking restrictions does not have the majority support of the residents.
Following a recent poll, only 30 per cent of residents bothered to express a view and a mere 20 per cent of the total Mayfield households actually wanted restrictions.
That meant 80 per cent of Mayfield residents either don't want yellow lines or don't care. Hardly a strong case for restrictions.
Name supplied
Leyland
I feel safer
Dear editor, it's good news about Chorley Council doing taxi vehicle checks (Guardian April 15). I am staying with my daughter on Weldbank Lane and have used taxis from the rank a few times. Knowing they are checked makes me feel safer.
Name and address supplied
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Weather for Chorley
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -5 C to -0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
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