20/02/06

The assembled MEPs succeeded in reaching an agreement to deregulate some of the rules about food and drink packaging which had existed before.

Under the Commission's proposal, manufacturers would be free to manufacture in any volume they wished. Simply, packaging sizes would not be restricted one way or the other.

If consumers demanded their milk or beer served in pints, it would be for the market to respond.

The extraordinary thing is that some national newspapers got it wrong in their January 30 papers. They had a good go at the European Commission for supposedly banning all common British measures such as the pint (for milk or beer). The opposite had taken place, the pint can be used as before.

If a reader would like to hear about this directly from their MEP, any public library will help them to get in touch. - E Whittaker, Richmond.

FOOTBALL MANAGERS

THERE is no doubt football is a funny old game when failed managers seem to finish much better off financially than successful ones, and players who don't perform on the park still receive their handsome salaries.

Football would be a different game if both players and managers were paid by results.

Clubs would no longer have to fork out millions to get rid of failed managers and players who did not perform on the park would not automatically receive their huge weekly salaries while being relegated to the bench.

The only people who could possibly achieve this are the long-suffering fans who would do far more good by staying away than missiling their season tickets. - Douglas Punchard, Kirkbymoorside.

RE your article on the back page (Echo, Feb 14), Martin O'Neill spent the most successful part of his managerial career in Scotland, with Celtic winning numerous cups and league championships, also taking Celtic to a European final in Seville in 2003.

To state that he spent almost all of his playing and managerial career in England is an insult to Martin O'Neill, Celtic and Scotland. - Patrick Ryan, Darlington.

BUS STATION

THE people of Stanley should be proud to have such a fine new bus station.

I visited it shortly after opening and I was very impressed. So well designed, clean, good toilets, shop, open vision, easy access to buses, no smoking etc.

Last Saturday while visiting Stanley with my grandson I thought I just had to show him the new bus station. However, I was so disappointed with what I found. The windows and walls were dirty, the floor was dirty and covered in litter. One person was smoking and the fire alarm was going.

It was obvious the woman attendant was distraught and unable to handle the situation on her own. She told me the alarm had been sounding for more than an hour and she had been unable to get anyone out to turn it off. Apparently, it is a regular occurrence for children to set off the alarm, usually by activating the smoke detectors.

Is the new bus station destined to be a no-go area like the one recently demolished?

Are these the early signs of a trashed bus station where the mob rule OK and the common, decent person is afraid to go about their business? The mob must not be allowed to rule.

Maybe those who manage Durham bus station could offer some advice for they seem to be handling a similar situation quite well.

Those bent on trashing everything in their sight need to be shamed and compelled to make restitution for the damage they cause. This should be both financial and practical, for example by contributing towards the cost of the bus station and towards the maintenance by collecting litter and washing the walls, windows and floors.

It would be interesting to know the views of readers on the subject and what they think would be a suitable punishment and practical deterrent. - CG Farquhar, Durham.

RUBBISH MOUNTAIN

RE the new incinerators under consideration in your piece 'Rubbish mountain battle' (Echo, Feb 15), are local authority proposals currently going through the system instead of the sites earmarked by the Government to meet projected growth in energy from waste?

In terms of infrastructure, it is for local authorities to put in place the facilities they need to deal with the waste that their communities generate.

What's more, the proposals the Government has put forward in its review of England's waste strategy suggest we will not require as much incineration as was predicted in the last review in 2000.

Thanks to considerable improvements in recycling rates in the past four years, our revised strategy suggests more recycling in place of incineration, and a greater emphasis on reducing the waste we produce in the first place.

Energy from waste is a viable option only for the waste that can't be recycled or reduced; it is also far more preferable to burying it in landfill sites, environmentally, health-wise and economically. - Ben Bradshaw, Minister for Local Environmental Quality and Waste.

RETURN TO SENDER

NOW that the Government is proposing charging us for removal of extra rubbish, I would suggest that we take any letter that comes from the Government or the council with a return address envelope, fill a large envelop with some of the garbage we get through the post, stick the Government letter on the front and send it to them to dispose of, making sure, of course, you do not put anything in the returned garbage with your name on.

In fact, go further and return all unwanted rubbish to the sender.

Why should we pay for getting rid of all the rubbish we do not create or do not want? - Malcolm DF Stobley, Name and address supplied.

FREE TRAVEL

HAVING seen first hand, the free pensioners' public service transport operating in Strathclyde, Scotland, I've listened with dismay and a lot of disgust to the comments coming from Durham County Council, regarding the free pensioners bus travel, restricted, I may add, to district boundaries.

Councillors realised in Scotland that public service vehicles which are subsidised on routes were travelling nearly empty between peak times. Wouldn't it make sense to give pensioners the ability to travel free and fill these seats that are being subsidised?

Pensioners travel into towns and the money they save on fares gets spent in the shops. It all helps the local economy.

Durham County Council, instead of bleating about there's not enough money for the scheme, should wait and see what the take up is regarding the free bus pass.

In Scotland they are having to advertise for pensioners to apply as only about 50 per cent have done so. There are many who qualify in the Durham County area that will not have a bus service to travel on, or cannot use the service to reach a town worth visiting.

Make the free bus travel pass open to all districts in the county and stop the pensioner discrimination. - Name and address supplied.

SCHOOL CLOSURE DEBATE

PUBLIC CRITICISM: THE Liberal Democrat group on Darlington Borough Council deplores the fact that the chief executive of the council, Ada Burns, has written a letter (HAS, Feb 13), which publicly criticises a senior member of the opposition party.

Any factual errors in Councillor Johnson's letter should have been pointed out privately by the chief executive who, as an employee of the council, should not become publicly involved in political discussion.

The apparent politicisation of the chief executive reveals how subservient council officials appear to have become to the local Labour leadership.

Ms Burns is a local government officer and her public criticism of an elected representative is totally unacceptable. Why does she feel it necessa ry to involve herself in this manner? Is she speaking for herself or Councillor Williams? Why does Coun Williams send her to public meetings about his education plans, but not attend himself? Why does he continue to hide behind Ms Burns?

There are important flaws in her letter. She says she does not want to jeopardise the good work done by Longfield and Branksome by allowing talk of possible closure. Well, what about the good work done by Hurworth School?

Furthermore, council figures show there will be a surplus of places if the academy is built, so it is right to ask, as Councillor Swainston did at the last council meeting, what effect this would have on the viability of other schools.

If heads and governors in the town are so supportive of the academy, why not offer one to them and use council funds to rejuvenate Eastbourne and modernise Hurworth?

Can we have some straight answers, please? We've had enough secrecy and obfuscation, and remind Coun Williams not to use independent council officials for political proposes. - Councillors Steve Jones, Fred Lawton and Martin Swainston, Liberal Democrat

I WAS shocked and stunned at Ada Burns' comments in reply to Conservative Councillor Charles Johnson.

Firstly, many years ago, our Labour council leader said the council would never close Hurworth School, but look what it is trying to do now. Branksome and Longfield stakeholders should be worried.

Secondly, she says the council would not want to jeopardise Longfield School's hard work after gaining a prestigious IT award. Yet they are happy to jeopardise Hurworth School's hard work, which does not just have one prestigious award but is prestigious in its whole capacity and is recognised nationally as the best school in the area.

Thirdly, she said Coun Johnson suggesting Branksome School will close will do nothing but upset everyone who is committed to the school. This just takes the biscuit - look what the council has done to Hurworth stakeholders, the community, the staff, the parents, the children and the governors.

The council has caused so much unnecessary upset and worry, not to mention public money in holding information sessions, ie presentation material, flyers and resources etc, when in fact it is not part of the formal consultation and there is very little chance the council will even receive funding for an academy. - Julie Jones, Hurworth.

PLEASANT SITE

IT was good to see that both the Church of England's architect and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) have approved the preferred site for the proposed academy.

Hopefully, it will go some way to convincing people that the site is not the sink hole some have described and that, with careful planning, will be as safe, secure and pleasant as any other site.

It was also good to see that so many elected representatives (council and community) turned up for the meeting at Eastbourne School to support the parents in what was a difficult and emotive atmosphere.

I found it strange that supporters of Save Hurworth and Rural Education (Share) claim there is no support from the people of Darlington for the new school based on numbers attending the presentation.

Unlike Hurworth Village itself, this part of town has five separate wards, all with feeder schools who are the focal point for the future, which is when the proposed academy will be built. The true feelings of the area will come to light with the formal consultations. - David Preston, Darlington.

INFORMATION SESSIONS

With the numerous council-run academy information sessions now almost complete, it must be apparent even to this council that there is no support for their proposal to close down Hurworth school.

While the Hurworth sessions attracted huge numbers, unanimously opposed to the closure, the remainder have had tiny numbers of parents, usually outnumbered by councillors and representatives from Share.

That is with the exception of Middleton St George last evening. With the audience restricted to purely current parents of the primary school, it was made quite clear to the council that this community wants nothing to do with their academy plan. Many people moved there in the first place to get their children a place at Hurworth.

I now understand that the governors of the MSG primary (Church of England school, remember) have decided not to endorse the Church of England-sponsored academy at Cummins.

If they cannot even garner support from this constituency, how can they possibly suggest their proposals have any level of public support?

The council say at each session and on their website 'We want to hear your views'. Well, they have heard them, not from councillors, council employees or their affiliate groups, but from the people of Darlington - they do not want an academy at the expense of Hurworth school.

It is now time for the council to swallow their pride, admit they are wrong and produce viable and positive options for secondary education in Darlington. - Carolynne Marshall, Hurworth.

branksome future?

READING Ada Burns try to worm herself out of the hole Margaret Asquith, the council's education supremo, and herself have dug for themselves in (HAS, Feb 13) was astonishing. At the St George's School academy proposal parents' meeting in January, a graph produced by them clearly showed that, as a result of falling birth rates in the Darlington Borough, a school may have to close now, so they picked out successful Hurworth.

However, the decline is shown as expected to continue for the next decade, meaning the closure of another secondary school.

Ada then advised on what grants would be made available to which schools. Given that Hurworth/Eastbourne will be a foundation school, Longfield will receive significant funding for a specialist sporting/IT school, Hummersknott will receive funding for a language school, Haughton Community School will be rebuilt and Carmel will also obtain a grant for religious links, then it is blatantly obvious to Branksome parents which school they have identified for closure, as it will be run down as Eastbourne has been. - Mark Anderson, Middleton St George.