3/4/2008

Woking

Letters from April 3 2008

The disgruntled will vote with their feet

EDITOR — I would like to answer a couple of points raised by Mr Atkinson in your letters page (News and Mail, March 27).

With regard to the comments regarding Cllr Murray’s position as council leader — follow me, and an increasing number of voters, by voting for the Liberal Democrats at future local elections.

There are going to be vast swathes of disgruntled residents (disabled people, pensioners, and the other disadvantaged groups) who will vote with their feet.

A few weeks ago there was outrage at the manner in which  the council’s CEO had signed cheques and permitted enormous amounts of money to be agreed without sanction.

I too was incensed by what I saw as unacceptable behaviour. I contacted the local council ombudsman in the capital and produced all the letters printed in the letters page of this newspaper.

There followed a period to allow the ombudsman to decide if there was a case to answer. When the ombudsman contacted me next it was agreed to put all the complaints to the council. He did, however, state that Ray Morgan and the executive members were not obliged by law to either acknowledge the complaint or act upon it.

I received a call from the deputy chief executive advising that the council would take up my complaint. Firstly I would compliment the people involved in taking up my complaint, which they were not obliged to, and to thank Mrs Murray for advising me of the outcome of their meeting.

I was also sent a copy of the letter from Ray Morgan assuring all concerned that he would use his best endeavours to ensure that this did not happen again.

My last thoughts on the matter are that the complaint was rigorously investigated so perhaps we can now ‘put the matter to rest’.
R E Braham
Hermitage Woods Crescent, Woking

A nation in meltdown?

EDITOR — On the first day the multi-billion pound Terminal 5 at Heathrow is opened to the public, the whole complex breaks down. People are left either without planes to fly away on or no luggage to fly with, or both.
The lifts don’t work and there’s no-one there to advise people where to go (the staff themselves don’t know anyway).

Lots  and lots of apologies all round, but still no satisfaction even days later.

Then on Friday this announcement on the radio: There are no trains between Waterloo and the City Line due to lack of staff (yes, you heard: lack of  staff).

Why, in this day and age and with thousands unemployed or shirking, can’t we have one or two extra trained people who can step in in such an emergency?

We are told the cost of living is going down (they find this out by using a basket of fairly useless items to gauge this year by year) but you and I who are shopping for normal items know that is not correct.

Schools, hospitals and doctors’ surgeries are overflowing (not to mention the drains) and yet no one has cottoned on to the fact that if more and more people are living here we need those other things to keep pace.

Where does it all end and who is brave enough to stand up and really make a change and not just shout about what changes they are going to make?
Ms O Dean
Loop Road
Woking

Tip could recycle more

EDITOR — Over the weeks and months I have been reading your letters page, which often speaks of deplorable wastes of money and ‘mistakes’ over the handling and dispensing of public monies.

Looking at another issue,  recycling, which your paper admirably gives lots of space to, I thought: “Why is it that Martyrs Lane is one of the few disposal centres that will not allow ‘useful’ unwanted items to be taken away, thus saving them from going to landfill, therefore reducing amounts going into this ‘dangerous’  way of disposal?”

Looking at what is recycled, an awful lot of recycling is commercially viable, such as cans.

I firmly believe that to secure the earth’s future we need to look beyond money and first think “is it possible?”
If money is needed why not collect and advertise easily reusable items similar to the free ads. Or a number of people could be invited to the dump, who could be there without causing problems to its workability, and pay a token of £5 to collect and take away whatever they want.

They could sign a responsibility disclaimer on potentially hazardous items and this money could be ploughed back into the provision of services or towards paying for the redevelopment of Martyrs Lane.
Name and address supplied

Put your money in safe hands

EDITOR — As expected the Lib/Dems rose to the bait and rolled out their propaganda team in response to the favourable publicity given by the News and Mail to the zero increase in the local element of council tax.

In their letter last week Goldenberg and Smith (GAS) maintained that their 2006/7 tax was “almost nil in real terms”. The reality was that it increased by 4.8%.

If a council has any savvy it does not build inflation into its forecasts but rather takes a very sharp knife to trim the yards of excessive fat on the cost carcass.

In the next few weeks the “Gas” company will be on our doorsteps to read our political meters and we should all take the opportunity to tell these economic recusants we do not want them to spend money we cannot afford on services and projects we don’t need.
Mike Thorn
York Road
Woking

First printed in: Woking News and Mail