FOOTPATH ROW

I WOULD like to complain bitterly on behalf of myself and all the other residents of Thirsk about the shocking state of footpaths around the Market Place.

At a recent public meeting in Thirsk Town Hall, I suggested that part of the £1m due to be spent to invigorate the town would be wisely invested in getting rid of the old West Yorkshire woollen mill stone floor slabs. I am sorry to say that my suggestion when down like a lead balloon.

Is it not strange how the people who rarely use the old market town wish to retain that so-called old world charm? As if we didn't have enough to put up with, with the cobbled market place that the old squire endowed us with for the next 100 years.

My wife's wheelchair is taking a real hammering and if nothing happens soon we will have to visit other towns to carry out our shopping. So much for progress. - JP Lassey, Bagby, Thirsk.

MARGARET BECKETT

HUGH Pender's defence of Margaret Beckett (HAS, Jul 7) will cut little ice in North Yorkshire.

If was Margaret Beckett as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who in March 1998 consented to the unnecessary National Grid line of giant pylons from Picton to Shipton. It still has not been built, by the way.

Mrs Beckett's consent letter was careless and flawed. She had ignored material technical representations put to her department since the various inquiries closed. Another example of Whitehall arrogance.

The Lackenby-Picton line is not opposed in principle by Revolt, now that it is conditional on the removal of the 275kV line in Teesside and a substantial part is to be underground. But the Picton-Shipton line is unnecessary and still strenuously opposed. Margaret Beckett will be reviled for it here. - Mike O'Carroll, Chairman, Revolt, Northallerton.

DIRECT TAXATION

LAST week in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, we discussed the possibility of introducing an EU-wide direct tax. The very thought of this sends shivers down the spines of Euro-sceptics everywhere and makes the palms of Labour and Tory MEPs sweat. But let's just take a minute to look at this.

The EU is funded through contributions from the Member States. The UK currently contributes about 14 per cent of the total EU budget. This amounts to about £7bn a year - a quarter of what the government currently spends on interest payments! We are third in terms of main contributors to the EU behind France (17 per cent) and Germany (25 per cent). Considering we are the fourth richest economy in the world, I don't think that is too much, especially when you remember we get a lot of it back in European Social Fund grants to small and large organisations across Yorkshire.

And then, of course, there is what is called the "peace dividend" - the money we have saved over the years through not having to fight wars with one another in Western Europe.

The whole funding system is difficult to understand and is certainly not transparent. If we had a direct tax - not an extra tax, but a replacement of the current situation - everyone would know exactly how much of our money is going to the EU.

The whole system would be more open to democratic accountability. Everyone would be paying a fair and equitable contribution, and the citizen would feel more connected to the European Union. - Diana Wallis MEP, Liberal Democrat Party, Yorkshire and the Humber.

AIPORT'S BURDEN

OUR local airport at Teesside is disappearing down its own runway. Several years ago things looked promising for those of us who prefer to drive for only a few miles before leaving for the foreign parts or London.

Since then there has been a serious loss of flight availability. The only new airline is Ryanair but we have lost Gill Airways, and I believe British Midland has reduced its number of flights to London.

Airports from places like Liverpool and now Bristol have managed to attract the so necessary airlines that provide the cheap travel which ordinary people have to pay for themselves, unlike the business community. There is nothing the matter with Teesside Airport's facilities and plainly what is needed to attract similar airlines to Ryanair into this area is a great reduction in landing charges. - Ian Taylor, Aycliffe Village, Co Durham.

DIRECT TAXATION

THE Government introduced Best Value into local government, to replace Compulsive Competitive Tendering (CCT). If Best Value brought quality as well as cost into the equation, this could benefit local council tax payers. Best Value should apply to all areas of council spending, including footpath maintenance.

I have asked Durham County to stop using a cheap, uneconomic footpath dressing called slurry seal on residential footpaths. Based on a few years experience, I have found that it is prone to erosion and has a short life. The public doesn't like it and I have received many complaints about this unsightly substance.

I would ask Durham County to review its entire policy regarding the use of slurry seal and to upgrade the standard of surface dressings under Best Value. - Councillor Ben Ord, Liberal Democrat Spennymoor Ward, Sedgefield Borough Council.

DIRECT TAXATION

I REMEMBER inflation at 27 per cent under Labour, rotten garbage on many streets, the dead not being buried and the frequent strikes in our schools. The Tories took over a country on its knees in the 1970s. The World Bank auditors told us to put our house in order, or we were bankrupt. That was not under the Tories.

MPs have just given themselves a massive rise and will give themselves £4,000 a week rise in another couple of years. It would seem the gravy train is not only the Tories' idea. Private investment is on the cards on the London Underground, Air Traffic Control, the NHS and many others.

Many people, more than half the electorate, did not vote at the last election, but the next election just may be a different story. - John Young, Crook.