Darlington STATION: I RECENTLY wrote to the manager of Darlington station pointing out that while Darlington is a wonderful resource for people in the Tees Valley area, enabling them to get to London, Edinburgh or Manchester Airport, the parking arrangements leave something to be desired.

There seem to be fewer spaces - except for disabled drivers - and an inflexible parking charge, regardless of the time involved, of £5.

I asked whether a graduated charge system like that operating at Teesside Airport could be introduced.

My letter was met with a deafening silence.

I wonder if any other of your readers share my disappointment with the current system. - PF O'Brien, Middlesbrough.

AIRPORT EXPANSION

MY property backs directly onto the Durham Tees Valley Airport, which is visible across the current 30-acre open field. This affords me a view of some 20 miles south to the hills above Catterick and east towards the Eston Hills. This field and surrounding hedgerows and small wood offers a great deal of wildlife, foxes, pheasant, bats and occasional deer sightings as well as a multitude of bird life.

With the building of the North Business Park and car parks as the airport expands, this will be lost.

The proposed buildings will be some 45 feet high. Office staff will overlook my back garden. Car park lighting will be 25 feet (eight metres) high. The light pollution will also be highly invasive.

There'll be an increase in noise pollution from vehicles and telephones ringing, PA announcements and rogue car alarms. The construction phase alone will be horrendous.

As the existing airport has several derelict buildings, which are an eyesore anyway, why not develop these brownfield sites as opposed to this green field? There appears to be an abundance of unoccupied office space around the Stockton, Darlington area - look at Morton Palms -without building more. - Colin Pooley, Middleton-St-George, Darlington.

NIGHTCLUBS

WHY are we in the North-East so behind the times and the rest of the country?

The Cube nightclub in Spennymoor has had its application for a late licence refused, and I wondered why.

When I go for a Saturday night out I like to stay out all night, so I have to travel to Sheffield or Birmingham for a decent night. Even my favourite club in Newcastle is closing at 3am, forcing me to pay £40 taxi fare to get home. If it was open until 6am I could pay a few quid on the bus.

It seems we in the North-East are happy to sit in workingmen's clubs drinking cheap beer or to attend places where we are forced to listen to DJ Casper's record Cha Cha Slide - places where we are surrounded by people in shirts with gold earrings who we will probably be scrapping with when they push in at the taxi rank.

Ask the police where they get more problems: at one of these hellholes or in a proper club where the atmosphere is always friendly.

In the five years I have been going down south clubbing, I have not seen the police once. - T Morretti, Bishop Auckland.

DEAD KITE

I HOPE the police will reveal the exact location in Tynedale where the illegally poisoned red kite was found near a footpath (Echo, Jan 22).

It seems the poison can be absorbed through the skin, so anyone touching it can be affected, let alone pets which could eat it as the source seems to have been a rabbit and a pheasant which were laced with carbofuran.

I have had a dog poisoned and would not wish this to happen to anyone else.

My guess is this is the tip of the iceberg. There may be other dangers out there too like traps and snares.

A lot of money, some from the Lottery, has supported the Northern Kites Project to give people the opportunity to enjoy and learn about wildlife.

People are encouraged to visit the countryside. Let them do so in safety. If they see anything which seems to be a danger, report it to the police, but they need to know where to look if our wildlife is to be protected. - Brenda Scragg, Frosterley, Bishop Auckland.

IMMIGRATION

THE usual harangue that we are a very rich country and can afford immigration is myth based on spin and subterfuge (HAS, Jan 27).

We are simply up to our eyeballs in debt, even going to war so that we can borrow beyond our means from the Americans. We have a Government keeping itself in power on the pretence that our economy is thriving.

On the basis of economic migrants and asylum seekers, the majority are here for the purpose of improving their lot and that improvement is at the expense of the poor.

There are many problems facing the world, but that does not mean that a small nation like ours can be expected to bear the responsibility. - John Young, Crook.

IRAQ

IT IS to be hoped that the recent elections in Iraq are a success. However, it is quite apparent that we and the Americans have created a mess out of the unlawful invasion of Iraq and as a result many innocent people in that country have been killed along with an ever increasing number of our soldiers and civilians.

We have been led to believe that we have an obligation to help our allies, ie America, on the grounds that America were our allies in World War Two. This is true, they were our allies, but only because it served their political interests to get involved.

America was then, and still is now, vehemently opposed to communism. Any political system or even terrorist organisation that was against communism or American interests was, and still is, backed politically, militarily and financially by America.

America is a great country, of that there is no doubt. But let us not be fooled that we owe them a debt of gratitude.

What America does it does only in the best interest of America and no one else. In Vietnam they coined the phrase: "We had to destroy it in order to save it."

It seems that is still the policy today in Iraq and our Government is condoning it. - Barry Peacock, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

DEMOCRACY

ALF Lister is absolutely right to say we live in a pseudo-democracy (HAS, Jan 31).

The Government's decision to go to war in Iraq convinced me of this.

The aristocracy, with its totally disproportionate influence, does not help.

We do not have a written constitution. Legal decisions are made by precedent and custom - another reason why we should subscribe to the European constitution.

The far from decent behaviour of our royals is a millstone round our necks - the Queen being an exception, but even she has been unable to control her wayward family.

One-party government is not the ideal way to run a country and sooner or later a form of proportional representation will have to be adopted.

It may lead to some paralysis in the decision making process, but it would be the fairest - which democracy is supposed to be all about. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.