22/11/2007

Woking

Letters from November 22 2007

Penalising the wrong people

EDITOR — Cllr Michael Smith’s letter (News and Mail, November 15) said nothing new, it only reiterated the points he was reported as making at the overview and scrutiny committee meeting.

While I agree the pricing structure at the leisure centre needs simplifying, surely this can be done without penalising the elderly and disabled?

By discouraging the use of the leisure centre and Pool in the Park by the elderly and disabled who, in any case tend to use the facilities at off peak times, I fail to see how these proposed measures will increase either use or revenue.

As has been proved by the recent high profile case of Megan Thomas reported in the national press, age discrimination works both ways. So are the children to be means tested?

With 20.7% of Surrey school children at independent schools (Daily Telegraph, November 10) is it not discriminatory to assume that all children using the Woking Leisure Centre come from low income families?

Personally I am delighted the LibDem group brought this to the attention of the people of Woking through the columns of your newspaper before it became a fait accompli.

Cllr Michael Smith should remember the elderly and disabled vote — children don’t!
Frances Naldrett
Westfield

EDITOR — Whatever the pros and cons of the proposed new system of leisure charges, Cllr Smith’s appeal to government guidelines on age discrimination to justify not offering discounts to customers over the age of 60 (News and Mail, November15) does sound somewhat far-fetched.

People over 60 (regardless of their income) are currently entitled to free prescriptions, discounts on rail fares and local bus fares and lower admission prices to many buildings and amenities across both the UK and Europe.

Since the over-60s already appear to be receiving unwarranted preferential treatment in contravention of government guidelines, perhaps Woking council should consider charging an extra premium for over-60s when they use the leisure facilities as a means of helping to redress the impact of such improper age discrimination practices elsewhere.
Ian Howell
Fairford Close
West Byfleet

EDITOR — Can I assume that Cllr Smith, who sees senior citizen reductions at Woking’s leisure services as age discrimation, views free prescriptions and bus travel in the same vein?

Many senior citizens may be able to afford the full price but will be on a fixed income and with increased council tax, petrol and groceries might need to forego something else. Also, there are many who do not receive benefits but are only just above the borderline. We use facilities at times when they are unlikely to be used by others, so please allow us some fun!
Ann Bishop
Knaphill

EDITOR — Does Cllr Smith really believe the best way to “encourage” increased use of the leisure centre and pool is to raise charges?
Mrs S Hand
Beacon Hill
St John’s

Our green belt must be sacrosanct

EDITOR — Your full page article (News and Mail, November 15) to warn Surrey of the real threat to release green belt for future housing filled me with fury.

This issue keeps cropping up from time to time and I wonder if politicians are aware of how small this country of ours is compared to others.

The government dictates that so many hundreds of thousands of houses are to be built nationally by such and such a year and Surrey is expected to build 2,000 new homes for which there is not enough land, so we learn that our green belt might have to be used.

Green belt was created to protect land from development and should be regarded as sacrosanct, to be there for future generations to enjoy.

We cannot keep building more and more houses then there is land available for that purpose, it is sheer common sense.

Once released, green belt for building won’t stop it being used again and again.

Do people really want our green and pleasant land to disappear to large developments of housing estates?
I for one don’t and am sure a lot of people will agree.

If land is not available for development then the answer is simple — don’t. Land is not elastic and will not stretch to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of people arriving from other lands expecting homes to be available.

The government should be more concerned about their apparent loss of control over borders and seem to have little idea on how many are arriving on our shores, legally or otherwise. It would be interesting to hear other readers’ views on this problem.
Valerie Knight
Woodham Lane
Addlestone

Power should be held locally

EDITOR — I welcome the comments from Cllr Goldenberg (Time to Loosen the Belt? News and Mail, November 15) who has at last realised that it is central government that we must ask to provide the improvements to infrastructure that we require to support house building in the borough rather than the persistent but completely off-the-mark bleating of ‘Surrey County Council’ that we have heard from members of his group in recent years.
However, there are other issues of importance.

The government has announced that the housing and planning responsibilities of un-elected South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) are to be transferred to the unelected South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).

The government’s proposed changes are not set to come into effect until 2010 – after a general election.
I am pleased to say that the Conservative party remains committed to abolish regional planning and returning powers over housing and planning back to local councils. A Conservative government will back these powers up with necessary funding.

Of course on this we may not find the approval of Mr Goldenberg who has consistently been on record as being completely enthralled by the idea of a federal Europe and would surely be most upset to see the regional assemblies go.
Cllr Simon Bellord

First class school for special pupils

EDITOR — I would like to respond to your article last week referring to a child at Freemantles School (News and Mail, November 15).

Freemantles is a school for pupils with severe autism and is well respected both locally and nationally for its work with our very special pupils.

The child referred to in your report was in a specially designed play area attached to his classroom where he was supervised and observed at all times by two members of staff.  Children with autism sometimes display extreme and unpredictable behaviours, which often include uncontrollable aggression; each child has a behaviour management plan. 

On this occasion the fact that the child removed some articles of clothing, throwing them over the fence, was a new behaviour that could not have been predicted or anticipated by staff. 

They acted in accordance with his behaviour management plan and tried to preserve his modesty by providing a blanket, which he refused.  The first attempt to bring the child in was not successful as he was too distressed and physically challenging for staff to keep him safe. 

As soon as it was possible to safely bring him inside this was done.  Staff observed the child being photographed during the incident and we had no choice other than to inform the police.

Both parents are completely satisfied that the school staff handled a challenging situation with high levels of professionalism and are happy that their son is receiving a first class education in a caring environment.

We appreciate that to those who do not understand autism, some behaviour can be distressing. 

We are anxious to engage with our neighbours and the local community to try to raise awareness about autism.
Sue Stephens
Headteacher

Fun as a poppy girl

EDITOR — I expect like many other people, I have always said to myself I would like to be a poppy collector. This year, through an article in your paper, an appeal for collectors and a name and phone number, I contacted and became a collector.

What a rewarding experience. People were so pleasant, young, old and in between. I met people I had worked with and caught up with news.

Collecting time flew by. Whenever I phoned Ron Fraser to have more collecting tins delivered to me,  he was always cheerful, however harassed and busy he was. We owe so much to the people in the background doing the ‘donkey work’

I can only say it was a great experience. Please consider collecting next year.
Chrissie Eggleton
Chobham

First printed in: Woking News and Mail