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SCARBOROUGH

HAVING twice visited the resort recently, I must say that Scarborough is not the same place I visited years earlier. Everything seems much dearer.

Two ladies in our party were charged 65p each for a cup of tea. On asking staff if they could use the toilet, they were told they hadn't one, which makes one wonder where the staff went.

The charge to use Scarborough Borough Council's superloos is 15p. Why not issue a day ticket for pensioners? Even the toilets were locked in the railway station, therefore forcing people to use the superloos.

Is it not time clubs seriously thought of changing their venue for future excursions as we are all obviously not getting a fair deal in Scarborough? - Henry Robinson, Middlesbrough.

THE NORTHERN ECHO

JUST a few words of praise for your excellent paper. I read it each day and am always surprised at the good coverage of the area.

It was lovely to see you found time to include our Medieval Fayre (Echo, Aug 6) at Hartlepool, as there were so many other events going on. Loads of interesting things to tell us all about.

So keep up the good work. We have our own paper, of course, which is good, but the Echo does a great job for the region. Best wishes to all. - Joan Ferriday, Mayoress of Hartlepool.

HOUSING

THE Transport, Local Government and the Regions Select Committee will be looking very hard at the Government's record on urban regeneration.

Before we can start on this task, we need to have a better idea of how urban degeneration is occurring.

In the past, it was assumed this was mainly due to very poor housing, leading to slum clearance, or the development of sink estates in areas of public housing.

Today, however, there appears to be a new problems - empty private homes.

In some Northern towns and in a few other places in the country, there are large numbers of empty houses. Once there is a surplus of houses in an area, private buyers become wary and the worst Rachman-type landlords move in.

So, the Select Committee is starting its work with an inquiry into the problem of empty homes. Obviously, we want to know how many there are, how far the problem is spreading, could people be encouraged to move from over-crowded areas to use the empty homes?

If any of your readers have views about this issue, we would be pleased to have them as part of this inquiry. I will ensure they go before the Select Committee. - John Cummings MP for Easington, Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.

FISHING

HAVING failed utterly with a similar campaign in the US, the foreign animal rights organisation PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), with a "war chest" reputed to be £30m, has launched a sensationalist publicity campaign to try to get fishing banned in the UK.

The cheek of an outfit which speaks for hardly anyone in Britain, trying to impose its extremist view on a traditional part of British life via our own laws, will be roundly repudiated by the estimated three million ordinary people in the UK who fish for leisure. Nor will it have pleased the Government, whose latest manifesto expressly reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding angling. But we can expect more of the same propaganda from PETA and other well-funded animal rights groups.

As a campaigning organisation, the Countryside Alliance is unique in the UK in including in its manifesto a pledge to combat the extremist animal rights agenda while campaigning for responsible animal welfare principles.

The Alliance, which of course, is well used to challenging effectively the strident and prejudiced attacks on country sports such as hunting, has long warned that other traditional pastimes would soon be subject to similar assault.

In fishing's defence, we have ourselves already swung into action. For example, through our major new Gone Fishing campaign, the Alliance has picked up the cudgels against PETA over the American group's previous recent anti-fishing ruse - a cleverly biased education pack still being distributed in alarmingly large numbers into our schools.

We will continue to fight for fishing's future as hard as we do for that of hunting and shooting, and will resist implacably the attempts by animal rights zealots to poison public opinion on angling in order to be able to hijack our country's parliamentary process. - John Haigh, North East Area Public Relations Officer, Countryside Alliance, Thirsk.