17/05/05

1. The wind farm option has been proved to be the least efficient and to produce the most expensive form of renewable energy available to us at this time. Statistically, the wind blows in the right way to produce energy only one third of available time.

2. Denmark, one of the pioneers of wind farms, is to terminate its development for this reason.

3. Wind farm developers tend to obscure this fact with disingenuous figures for the efficiency of their farms, as a recent independent analysis of their own figures has shown.

4. If the arguable need for renewable energy is accepted then nuclear energy is the most cost effective. Seabed wave and/or tidal powered turbines are also excellent and do not have the operational problems that affect the wind farms.

5. In addition, the seabed turbine sites would become safe breeding areas for threatened fish stocks. - PJ Elliott-West, Sunderland.

VANDALISM

IN answer to Mr Green's letter (HAS, May 9), I agree wholeheartedly with him about the sheer vandalism in our town.

Most of the people in Darlington do not agree with changing the face of the town.

When it was first talked about a petition was conducted on High Row, thousands signed and it was handed to the town hall.

Will it do any good? I don't think so.

Once the powers that be - who were voted in to do what we wanted - just take it into their heads what they want to do, they just do it. - Mrs Moore, Darlington.

ANGELS OF THE NORTH

MAY I thank all the nursing staff on Ward 13 at Durham University Hospital (North Durham) for their care and attention towards me during my three weeks' stay at the hospital.

I was treated with respect and dignity, and nothing was a problem for them in nursing me back to health.

I wish also to give special thanks to Mr Varma and his medical team for their dedication in helping me regain my heath over this period.

Thanks to all my relations who visited me, and a special thank you to my two friends Charlie and Edith for visiting me on numerous occasions and for the other friendly patients on Ward 13 and the two friendly visitors Elizabeth and Eddy from Spennymoor who gave me words of encouragement when they visited the ward which helped a lot towards regaining my health.

But once again may I praise the nursing staff on Ward 13 for their dedication to duty and their words of support in helping me regain my health and for this I am truly grateful.

The nursing staff on Ward 13 to me are the true Angels of the North. - Jack Amos, Crook.

SPANISH CATS

I WOULD be very pleased to hear from any cat lovers who may be visiting Torremolinos and Arroyo de la Miel, on the Costa del Sol, in the near future.

I have managed to help a large number of stray cats and dogs in Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Greece and Romania yet since September I have been trying to find help in and around Torremolinos and Arroyo de la Miel for various cats and kittens I found there, including two abandoned domestic cats and also part-Siamese stray kittens.

Anyone who could use my funds to put food down etc and also find any information whilst out there would be of enormous help. Please contact Suzanne Thorpe, 35 Bucknall Avenue, LINCOLN LN6 OBL.

Tel 015212 683704 suzannehotmail@aol.com

INDEPENDENT VIEW

COUNCILLOR Alex Cunningham says he is delighted at keeping his Labour seat in Billingham.

He states that "the people of Billingham have made it clear the agenda Labour has set for the town is going to happen".

He bases this statement on the results of the recent election. In this ward which he now represents, 2,854 people voted Labour, while 1,912 voted Independent.

There were many election papers which had a cross in all three Independent boxes - sadly they could not be counted as there were only two votes per person.

Not only that, many had no crosses on at all - confused because they were voting for the General Election at the same time, ie two pieces of paper - all different names on each one.

Bearing in mind that this was the first election for us Independents I think it was a good one for us.

Coun Cunningham should not rest on his laurels, because Independents are not going away and we shall be back in two years time, older and wiser. - James Colverson, Billingham.

RAIL DEVELOPMENT

MAY I correct the assertion made by Micky Thompson of the RMT union (HAS, May 5) that the Government's strategy for Community Rail Development would replace qualified railway workers with volunteers. That is not true.

What Community Railways is about is increasing passenger numbers through better marketing and promotion, and the support of the local community, including voluntary support, would be most welcome here.

It is about managing the costs of these lines to ensure they represent value for money, and that the lines can have a secure future.

This certainly does not involve the use of volunteers, but a locally determined specification of the line's requirements rather than imposing high speed main line standards throughout (just as you would not expect to maintain a country lane in the same way as the A1(M)).

Above all, it is about bringing new life to local and rural railways with the full involvement of the communities they serve. For details of the strategy see our website, http://www.sra.gov.uk

For details of existing Partnerships, see the website of the Association of Community Rail Partnerships, http://www.acorp.uk.com - Chris Austin, Executive Director, Community Rail Development.

BACK BRITAIN

AT long last it appears that the British government has realised that it is better to give selective investment to safeguard jobs than to give it once a firm has folded with the loss of thousands and thousands of jobs as in the recent situation at Rover.

The £180m of taxpayer's funds that has been formally committed by our government to a Canadian company Bombardier Inc to create 3,200 new British jobs and safeguard its 800 supply-chain company's employees medium-term future is to be applauded.

But it has taken 40 years for this to sink in and hopefully for the preservation of British jobs this will continue and be increasingly enhanced.

Indeed, for decades successive government policy has been, "oh well, we can retrain those who are made redundant" (the reactive stance) and the UK's industrial base has been eroded year-on-year, but it should have been the proactive agenda of "where can we invest our people's hard-earned tax in a selective but substantive way that will deliver the nation's long-term employment sustainability?".

So please, UK government, keep on with the proactive agenda to invest in Britain's future and not in trying to get the nails out of the coffin when the patient has died. - Dr David Hill, Chief Executive, World Innovation Foundation.