13/12/03

He is introducing compulsory identity cards. He claims they will not be compulsory yet. But if you want to see the doctor or claim social security benefits you'll have to have one.

The compulsion of potential death because you cannot see your doctor, or the compulsion of poverty because you're not working or retired, are as much compulsion as Mr Blunkett personally holding a gun to your head.

After many years and millions of pounds spent, the Government has been unable to computerise the National Insurance number system. They haven't even got the biometric technology they propose to use on their new spy-cards. Another multi-billion pound fiasco seems to be in the making.

I urge all your readers to protest against both the principal and practice of this horrid proposal. - Robin Ashby, Gosforth.

SAFETY SERVICES

I WRITE to clarify my position regarding the Sedgefield Borough Council Safety Services, which has been misquoted.

The Sedgefield Borough Community Force was introduced in 1993, to combat anti-social behaviour. I monitored its performance for one year before voting against it, on the basis that it did not have the same powers or training as the police.

I have always said that I would support extra police for the role of community policing backed up by Special Constables.

I have fought to protect Carelink wardens at Sedgefield Borough. This service can be a lifeline for the elderly and disabled.

I support the Carelink service, which can give the elderly comfort that, in an emergency, a touch of a button can bring help. The service is open to the elderly who are accommodated in council or private households and people who have serious medical problems, who are not of pensionable age. - Councillor Ben Ord, Lib-Dem, Spennymoor Ward, Sedgefield Borough Council.

CLEVELAND POLICE

MANY of the people in Cleveland will have read with horror the renewed call for a gigantic increase in the police element of the council tax.

In the last two years the tax has been increased by 25 per cent and 38 per cent respectively and now the Cleveland Police Authority chairman is calling for a further increase of 28.9 per cent.

There is no stronger supporter of the police than myself, yet enough is enough. Year after year people on fixed incomes have seen the value of their pensions diminish mainly because of the increase in local taxes.

Year after year the people of Cleveland have been stunned by the sheer waste of public money. We have witnessed millions poured into the Lancet fiasco, which is still ongoing with legal actions.

We have seen unjustified early retirements and numerous suspensions of police officers. Public money has been frittered away and once again the police authority comes along with the begging bowl.

After all the years of expense and upheaval in the Cleveland Police force, the people want the chance to regain their faith, not so much in the bobby on the beat, but in their representatives on the Cleveland Police Authority.

I would suggest that a public meeting should be convened in the Middlesbrough Town Hall for the people of Cleveland to express their feelings to the police authority. - Dennis Lane, Middlesbrough.

PENSIONS

THIS country is betraying its 12 million pensioners who are struggling to survive on their meagre state pension, while also being means tested, and clobbered for council tax, and income tax, in the world's fourth richest economy.

Link-Age is a small but well informed group of people from all ages and backgrounds who are campaigning for all British pensioners. Link-Age is non-party political, with neither membership fee, charitable status, or vested interests.

We have an ongoing manifesto campaign for the restoration of the state pension link to average earnings, with an increase in the state pension to at least £200 per week for a single person, with the abolition of the means test, and the abolition of the council tax.

In October a Link-Age delegate had a meeting with Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, at the House of Commons. This meeting went well and Charles Kennedy has asked to be kept informed of our progress.

As Link-Age founder and nowhere near pensionable age, I am anxious to hear from more people in this region so I can send out more copies of Link-Age's manifesto in order that more people can then send a copy of our manifesto direct to their respective constituent MP at the House of Commons.

To inquire about receiving a copy of our manifesto, please ring (01803) 857020 after 6.30pm Mon-Sun. Together we can make a difference. - Michael Thompson, Founder Link-Age.

ROADWORKS

FOLLOWING your report about Durham County Council setting up a unit to co-ordinate roadworks to minimise the disruption they cause, your correspondent Mr Collinson (HAS, Dec 2 ) was perfectly right in defining holes dug in the road as streetworks.

Strictly speaking, holes dug by utilities (such as gas, water, electricity, telephones etc) are termed streetworks and holes dug purely for highway maintenance purposes are roadworks.

Confused? Probably... and that is why, to the majority of people, all holes dug in the road are regarded simply as 'roadworks'.

Mr Collinson's recollection about this sort of 'roadworks' co-ordination in Ontario, Canada, 40 years ago was interesting, and while I am sure there are many things we could have learned from each other at that time, circumstances have changed.

While he recalls that representatives of each utility met quarterly to discuss their forward planning, that is neither practical nor possible in County Durham today.

New legislation to manage utility works in the UK was introduced in the early 1990s when there were only a handful of utility providers.

There are now more than 200 companies which, as a result of privatisation and deregulation, have a right to dig up our roads.

It is just not physically possible for all of them to attend our quarterly meetings, although those that do, dig more than 40,000 holes and trenches per year in County Durham.

Our appointment of a network manager pre-empted a central plank of revised legislation which was announced recently in the Queen's Speech and on which we worked closely with central government.

The result should be that, roadworks, streetworks - or whatever you want to call them - are less of a nuisance than they have been in the past. - Councillor H Douthwaite, Chairman of Highways, Durham County Council.