Hear All Sides

FOLLOWING the Mayoral referendum, I have returned to my voluntary work at Darlington Memorial Hospital and the community groups that I am pleased to be part of. This enables me to reflect on the past weeks when, as a non-political member of the community, I was very strongly moved to say "no" to an elected mayor.

Initially, this was because I did not want to see our wonderful 140-year-old ceremonial mayor disappear, as has happened elsewhere.

But the more that I looked at this failed Government experiment, with only three per cent of the mayoral boroughs having an elected mayor, the more I realised it was not something that a town like Darlington needed.

I do not know how those people in favour could claim that having one person with immense powers was democratic compared with a cabinet of nine councillors elected by the people making important town management decisions on our behalf.

However, by far the majority of the voters recognised the dangers and I thank them for supporting our campaign and voting "no".

I would also like to thank The Northern Echo for its part in arranging the "debate" and highlighting the issues. - Alan Charlton, The Say No to an elected Mayor group, Middleton St George.

AFTER the referendum, Alan Milburn, the town's MP, said: "This is democracy in action. The whole point of a referendum is to let people speak and the people have spoken."

Can we assume that he will use what little influence he now has in Parliament to press for a referendum on the EU Treaty? - Alf Hutchinson, Darlington.

DUKE STREET

IN Duke Street, Darlington, cars park on both sides of the road and have done for two years or more.

On one side, law-abiding motorists use the pay and display; on the other side where there is a single yellow line, many motorists park for long periods.

However, there is an anomaly: motorists who have paid but exceed the time limit in the pay and display can be fined. Motorists who park on the yellow line do not, at present, suffer any penalty.

Although this has been reported to the council, it claims that parking on the yellow line is a matter for the police. Because the yellow line is worn away in parts, the police say that prosecutions are unsuccessful.

Therefore, there are too many cars in Duke Street, disabled motorists are unable to park near the opticians etc and the law-abiding motorist pays the penalty for a minor lapse while those infringing the law go free. It is time the council or the highway authority put the situation right. - Christine Bainbridge, Darlington.

PRIESTGATE

SURELY, Darlington Borough Council must be convinced by now that it was a stupid idea to run 120 buses an hour through Priestgate.

In spite of prior comments from the public and following the many complaints about noise and fume pollution, we now see that the road surface is subsiding, cracking and rapidly wearing away. The buses are causing ruts in the road at the exit of the Cornmill tunnel where they are all forced to use the same track.

Manhole covers and sewers are being forced into the ground by the continuous stream of buses passing over them, which will eventually lead to a collapse.

It has only been open for a few months, but the Pedestrian Heart is already becoming a tacky mess with many types of floor stains. When we consider the unfriendliness towards the elderly, the durability and layout of the project, we could argue that the whole design is not really fit for purpose. - L Hume, Darlington