12/09/05

Why should our elected councillors allow out-of-town developers to build eyesores outside our homes?

The White Horse has been steadily run down since the site was purchased. The bar was closed without notice and there is less meal availability.

In its place, they want to build a five-storey block of 55 flats stretching from the front of the car park to the rear of the plot, incorporating double level garages to squeeze the required number of parking spaces onto the plot.

Your paper is full of these types of developments being objected to by the people who have to live next to them, yet you never see the council refusing planning permission.

Can the council tell us why it never listens to us? Can't we stop them destroying our quality of life? - M Robinson, Darlington.

FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

I AM one of several residents of Sadberge near Darlington who use the Arriva service 98/99, which runs from Darlington to Stockton and back.

Sadly, it seems we are the forgotten village, as the buses fail to turn up on a regular basis.

We have been told several times by drivers if there are no passengers to be dropped off in Sadberge they miss the village out.

If you complain to the company they investigate your complaint and sometimes send you a free pass for a single journey, along with giving a reason for the bus not turning up (ie the bus broke down).

Also, due to the council road layout, elderly people from Beacon Hill, Sadberge, have to walk to the only bus stop in the village, which is quite a distance from their home, when there is ample space for a stop nearby. I think it is time something was done to rectify this problem. - Miss K Surtees, Sadberge.

SUPPORT GROUP

I AM writing to thank The Northern Echo for the fair and balanced reporting on the prison death demonstration held outside Durham Prison on August 31 after the death of Louise Giles, 20.

Your further report, 'Calls for remaining female prisoners to be transferred', (Echo, Sept 6), highlighted the anomaly whereby women are still held at HMP Durham, despite the Chief Inspector of Prisons' recommendation that they should be moved as a matter of urgency.

Since my 18-year-old daughter's death at Styal Prison in January 2003, a further 28 women have died while in the custody and care of prisons in England. Two-thirds of women prisoners are mothers, and nine out of ten have been convicted of non-violent offences.

The straightforward solution is to stop sending women to prison for non-violent offences. Community sentences offer a viable alternative - they are usually more effective, and cost less. Mentally-ill offenders, such as Louise Giles, should be sent to secure psychiatric units.

On average, two people each week take their own lives in prison in England and Wales (men and women). In view of this appalling death toll, it is possible that a grieving family will read this letter.

I should like to mention, therefore, details of an organisation that can offer information and support: INQUEST, 89-93 Fonthill Road, London, N4 3JH, tel 020 7263 1111, website: www.inquest.org.uk

It is the only non-governmental organisation that works directly with bereaved people following a death in custody. - Pauline B Campbell, Cheshire. (Mother of Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, 18, who died in Styal Prison, Cheshire, 2003).

WHITE CABS

I WAS pleased to hear that Durham cabbies have won their appeal against Durham City Council's rule that Hackney carriages must be white.

When are our councils going to stop wasting our money on pursuing pointless policies like these through the courts? It should be obvious to anyone which vehicles are taxis, as they all display a taxi roof sign, door roundels and a licence plate.

It actually makes it harder for potential passengers to identify their chosen taxi if all the cars, including those from neighbouring districts, are white.

It is time that taxi proprietors in the North-East launched an appeal to have these costly and totally unnecessary rules on vehicle colour removed, along with the equally pointless regulations many councils have regarding engine size, age limits and even the level of window tinting.

This degree of council interference dissuades new entrants to the industry and will ultimately lead to fewer licensed taxis on the road, creating an opportunity for unlicensed operators.

Taxi operators must act now before the bureaucrats ruin the industry. - Carl Irwin, Bishop Auckland.

TROLLEY BUS REUNION

We are looking for people who worked on the buses at Southbank Bus Depot for a reunion tomorrow at Eston Institute in Eston Square, Cleveland.

If you are interested in meeting up with all your old workmates please get in touch with Colin on (01642) 275131 or Bob on (01642) 502432. - Colin Lillystone, Eston, Cleveland.

BUS STATION

INSTEAD of spending millions of pounds on something the majority of Darlington Borough Council taxpayers do not want, ie a revamped town centre, why don't the councillors and officers use the money to give the town what the majority of people do want - a decent bus station?

Many towns integrate bus and rail services. There is a perfect site on Park Lane, close to the railway station, where a bus station could be built and thus make it easier for passengers to use either service.

The underpass from the platforms is already in place - only a bus station is required.

Decked car parking above the new development would integrate the motorist into the transport scheme. - Brian Jefferson, Darlington.

IRAQ WAR

LACKING in both judgement and foresight, George Bush and Tony Blair got us into the Iraq war, and on a bogus charge against Iraq: those weapons of mass destruction, which were nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, the trouble in Iraq has gone from bad to worse, and civil war looks more than likely.

Which leaves the next leader of the Conservative Party, far from endorsing the Iraq war, knowing full well that the majority of his party went along with Tony Blair and George Bush. - Alfred Lister, Guisborough.

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

I WOULD like to thank the people of Sedgefield for voting in a person who has now been our Prime Minister since 1997.

This is the person now taking all the glory since Mrs Thatcher tamed the unions.

As my mother and father used to say: "Put up a donkey for election in Sedgefield or Bishop Auckland, slap a sticker on its backside and call it Labour and the people will vote for it."

Maybe we would have been better off if the people of Sedgefield had voted for a donkey.

I am writing as a person who was brought up in the North-East before moving to Lincolnshire in the 1990s. - B Emmerson, Tattershall, Lincolnshire.