12/10/04

What is proposed to replace the High Row is unworthy vandalism. I cannot understand why English Heritage has given its blessing.

Bus passengers have not been considered. - D Gill, Darlington.

I AGREE with A Gibbon (HAS, Sept 25) and I think if The Northern Echo asked the people of Darlington to vote on the future of High Row, many would vote to keep it as it stands. I certainly would.

"Meet you on High Row" just wouldn't have the same ring to it without those grand granite steps. Please ask the people. - R Perkins, Darlington.

IT SEEMS our council is wanting to do exactly as it wishes as usual without consulting the townspeople.

I am pleased the South Park is having a facelift, but please leave the High Row as it is.

Also, if Mr Pease's statue is to be moved again (it will be the third time in my lifetime), can he have a good clean before being shoved up whichever back alley has been decided?

Perhaps he will be brought out again if the Liberal Party comes to power. - ME Brighten, Darlington.

HAS Darlington council forgotten the similar idea to rebuild the indoor market in the 1970s? And aren't we all so glad that did not happen?

Both ideas would amount to sacrilege. Modernity does not always mean homeliness. - A Johnson, Darlington.

DURHAM

THE students are back in residence and the nightmare of car parking has returned to my part of Durham City.

I am a council tax paying resident in the Hawthorn Terrace area, which has a very large number of properties occupied by students, who also own cars and expect to be able to park near their homes.

Why do commuters and shoppers feel they have a right to free all-day parking in this area?

Today by 9am, the streets are full of cars. For example, the cul-de-sac in which I reside is accommodating 30 cars and one skip. All available road space is taken and still vehicles are cruising around.

Why are people so selfish and thoughtless? - JA Stout, Durham City.

MEMBERS of Durham City Council's Labour group are outraged that LibDem propaganda is accusing them of not fighting post office closures in Durham.

Minutes of the September 7 council meeting clearly contain a motion from the Labour group opposing the closures. This motion was not backed by the LibDems.

Instead of employing the LibDem tactic of jumping on the latest bandwagon, Labour councillors have supported the local MP, Gerry Steinberg, in his call for a public meeting to seek clear information and clarification on the proposals, and to provide a forum for local communities to express their views and concerns. - Councillor Maggie Robinson, on behalf of Durham City Labour Group.

DURHAM Tees Valley

WHERE is Durham Tees Valley?

Obviously a very long way from London, if bmi adverts are to be taken at face value.

It is cheaper to fly to London from Belfast, Edinburgh or Glasgow than from the North-East. The costs from here rank equal to those for Madrid or Venice.

Or is there a particularly long way round they fly to justify the higher price? - Robin Ashby, Gosforth.

Sedgefield

I NOTE from the Labour Party Gazette, otherwise known as the Sedgefield Extra, that the great and the good of the parish council are in self-congratulatory mode in relation to the Best Small Country Town Award and the progress of the village in the Village of the Year Contest.

Very laudable, I am sure, except that I would ask if the judges noted that there were no working public toilets.

I keep asking what the parish council is doing to correct this rather serious and long term problem, and in reply I find the silence deafening and somewhat insulting to the citizens of this village. - C Brian Hunter, Sedgefield.

IRAQ

IF those members of the Government who objected to our forces participating in the attack on Iraq had possessed the moral courage to muster enough support for a no confidence vote in Tony Blair, our servicemen may never have been sent. Party unity should never override morality in a so-called Christian society. As it turns out, the best military servicemen in the world have been badly used. - H Grieveson, Richmond.

ANTI-SOCIAL

CAN someone explain to council tax payers why only 2,455 anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOS) have been issued since 1999, while every day around 66,000 complaints are made about anti-social behaviour? It shows that most people's problems are not being solved. - N Tate, Darlington.

TERRORISM

COMPARED to the massive damage that many of the 1,000 bomber raids inflicted on Germany during the last war, the scant amount caused by so-called terrorists is minimal.

Many humans are killed in road accidents, many more die of smoking tobacco and other diseases, and yet these deaths seldom make the headlines. But a terrorist attack will be on the front pages immediately, even if there are no casualties and only structural damage.

Is it not about time that terrorist attacks are put on the back pages because at present they get the full coverage and massive publicity which encourages others to help assist and join these villainous gangs? - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill, Co Durham.

MOTORBIKES

I READ (Echo, Oct 6) that yet another person has been mown down by a motorcycle. Surely that should have been "mown down by a thick-head driving a motorcycle".

We have MPs, all parties, shouting about hunting while every week this sort of thing happens. Does the right to roam mean that thugs on motorcycles can mow people down at will then run off laughing?

When will we have a law that means what motorcyclists do can be done to them? Better still, let the foxhounds loose on them instead of the fox. That would be great. - Peter Brown, Trimdon Village, Co Durham.

SHROPSHIRE

MAY we appeal to "Proud Salopians" in the North-East? Shropshire people care greatly for our favourite little mountain, the Wrekin. It's our symbol of home. We dream of it when we are far away.

For centuries The Wrekin has been owned by private estates, though we have treated it as our own. Now one landowner is selling up and we want it to become the property of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust (SWT), which will look after it for us all.

Will you help us? There's information on SWT's website www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk. - George Evans, President, All Friends Round The Wrekin, Shropshire.