LOCAL GOVERNMENT: HOW can Sedgefield Borough Council continue to support the Local Choice - Local Voice campaign for the creation of three unitary councils in County Durham, when the results of an independent Mori survey show it is the least popular option among the people it serves?

The poll showed that, when asked which option they would most prefer to see emerge from any local government shake-up, 45 per cent of those people questioned in the borough said they would prefer to see the creation of a single all-purpose council to serve County Durham.

Bottoming the poll with only 17 per cent was the three-council option - which Sedgefield Borough Council is supporting.

When asked which outcome they would least prefer, the majority of people in Sedgefield once again made it clear they did not want the three-council option.

It seems to me there's a clear message coming through.

The big question is - is it getting through to the borough council? - County Councillor Terry Hogan, Durham County Hall.

PARENTING

PARENTS may not like NAHT general secretary David Hart's remarks about some of them being feckless (Echo, May 4), but it is true.

Not all parents, by any manner of means. Most do a wonderful job preparing their children for school and giving them and the school full support throughout their school years.

But there are a significant number who start their educational years unable to handle such basic things as how to use a toilet, how to dress, how to eat using cutlery and, most of all, how to behave.

Such neglect continues as the children grow. Serious problems arise such as those highlighted by Mr Hart. It is time the feckless parents were brought to book.

Why should other children suffer and have their education disrupted because of the bad parenting of the few? If all parents did their job thoroughly the teachers could do theirs just as thoroughly. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

PARKING CHARGES

WHY does Darlington Borough Council want to introduce meter charging to the only remaining free short-stay parking in the town centre, when in the past they have embraced the concept of free parking to attract customers pre Christmas?

Why not embrace the concept to attract customers all the time, the same way that local competing towns do, like Northallerton and Yarm, who have free disc parking?

Darlington town centre is presently at a juncture. We can't compete with the shopping selection of centres such as Middlesbrough or Newcastle and we also face strong competition in leisure, restaurants and speciality shopping, plentifully available within ten to 15 miles.

When we get the extension to the Queen Street shopping complex, the benefit of the greatly improved pedestrianised area, and even (hopefully) a multi-screen cinema/leisure complex, then, and only then, should we even think about removing the attraction of free short-stay convenient parking, which presently is a real benefit to the town centre. - Peter Robinson, Thomas Watson Auctioneers, Darlington.

THE proposal to introduce charges for on-street parking in Darlington town centre should be supported.

It will reduce traffic congestion as drivers will no longer drive in circles looking for free-of-charge parking.

If traffic and parked cars are reduced it will make the streets safer for pedestrians to cross, especially for small children.

It will reduce the number of drivers who abuse time limits by parking their cars in restricted time parking areas for far longer than the permitted time, which many drivers do on Grange Road and nearby streets because of a lack of traffic wardens.

I work in the town centre, own a car but walk to and from work. This is the kind of exercise now being recommended by Government and health authorities.

I recognise that disabled drivers cannot do this and need to park close to shops. The council should reserve more free parking for the disabled in shopping streets such as Grange Road and Duke Street while introducing charges for the able bodied. - PJA Jeffrey, Darlington.

EUROPE

NEXT month people, it seems, are to be asked to vote without being given the possible consequences of voting yes or no to Britain's entry into Europe.

One would seem to be to surrender our coinage for the euro, causing discomfort for a year or so and some loss of sovereignty. But I doubt whether younger voters will be told the infinitely greater gains by so doing.

Will they be told how Germany, with its dictators, caused two world wars, and the loss of millions of lives as a result?

This kind of behaviour by powerful nations will be most unlikely to happen if we have a European Union of Nations, with free trade and travel.

Please try to find a way of informing voters of all the results of their choice. - Norman R Wood, Richmond.

IRAQ

YOU posed the question (HAS, May 5) whether the pictures, which have been claimed to be genuine, showing supposedly British troops ill-treating Iraqi prisoners of war were false. And the answer is yes.

A closer inspection of a soldier urinating on a prisoner shows the drops of urine are actually small spherical objects attached to a bent piece of wire. The wire has been obliterated during the photo development, which means the pictures were not sent away to be developed.

A prisoner would not be allowed to sit with his legs in a bent position because it would allow him to kick a guard in the face and blind him. The prisoner would have to sit with his back against the side of the vehicle with both legs stretched firmly on the floor.

Another picture shows a prisoner being threatened by a rifle butt in the groin. The prisoner's legs are partly raised and the guard is bending over him. A properly trained soldier would not get very close to an enemy prisoner, especially in the Middle East where suicide bombers are an unknown quantity. - Thomas Conlon, Spennymoor.