November 7
Help the race for a meningitis vaccine We would like to ask any of readers who are bravely taking part in next year's Flora London Marathon, on April 26, and have an independent place, if they would like to run for Meningitis UK.
Meningitis UK has a single focus – to find a vaccine to eradicate all forms of meningitis. Tragically, meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia continue to affect thousands of people in the UK every year and kill more children under five than any other infectious disease.
Last year, we launched our Search 4 a Vaccine Campaign, which aims to raise 7 million to fund research into finding a vaccine for meningococcal group B – the most common form of meningitis in the UK. This accounts for almost
90 per cent of all cases and there is currently no vaccine.
Everyone who runs for Meningitis UK will be part of the Meningitis Musketeers team, with the motto All 4 One and One 4 All – to highlight the devastating fact that meningitis can kill in under four hours and the importance of our Search 4 a Vaccine Campaign.
Full support will be given and everyone who participates will receive a free Search 4 a Vaccine running vest or T-shirt and a handy information pack including hints and tips on how to prepare.
If you would like to take part in the Flora London Marathon and help us to achieve our vision, contact Emily on 0117 3737373 for a sponsorship pack.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Emily Knight,
Community Fund-raising Officer,
Meningitis UK.
Housekeeping suggestions
I write as a Council Tax-payer as well as a housewife.
In these uncertain economic times, we all have to look to our housekeeping to juggle the money.
To start with, and to save money, would St Edmundsbury Borough Council consider stopping the Community News pamphlet?
This must cost a great deal of money, time and resources to produce and is really not necessary. All news of the council's doings could be reported in the Bury Free Press and the Citizen, on a weekly basis.
Maybe the Bury Free Press could invite readers to comment on where other council savings could be made and arrange for space to be devoted to council matters? All those who purchase the paper would, I am certain, be interested.
Do not put up Council Tax for hard-pressed residents, lower it.
What else can readers suggest to housekeep the council's money?
Jane Renton,
Springfield Road,
Bury St Edmunds.
Councillors give up time
I note the various letters about pay for councillors.
I am no fan of this particular group of councillors, but criticism of their allowances is unrealistic and unfair.
These people give up their own time to contribute to the running of our affairs. Anyone can stand for election (but it's a tough experience – try it) and those who do so no doubt have many reasons, but making money certainly is not one of them.
I sometimes think that we are crazy to have a system of willing volunteers to run our local government with responsibility for millions of pounds of expenditure. It is hard work with little thanks.
Personally, I am thankful for all people who fulfil these roles, whether county council, borough council, parish council, community councils or even clubs and societies.
R H Davies,
Holly Close,
Horringer.
Put cash to better use
Recent correspondence shows that Suffolk County Council wants to spend 400,000 on a psychotherapy course for 400 of its employees.
Where will it get proof of success?
People who have to manipulate a multi-million pound budget may consider 400,000 small-fry, but they should perhaps try discussing it with a young couple looking for a property to rent at a sensible rate – they may have an argument on their hands.
The so-called council village, being built in Bury St Edmunds, where all council offices were to be situated, is now, even before completion, deemed inadequate, with the possibility of the purchase of borough offices on Angel Hill to compensate. This last incident from a mistake by councillors playing with our cash.
Money collected in the form of Council Tax etc cannot be saved (only not spent). But, if it must be spent, put it to a cause the voting public will remember it by, the next time round, for the right reasons.
Roy Day,
Park Road,
Bury St Edmunds.
Why can't we be civilised?
I am writing with reference to the letter about the lack of cyclists using the cycle path from Thurston to Bury.
My family and I are regular cyclists along this route, which we thoroughly enjoy, and often continue past Sainsbury's and the rest of Moreton Hall, where there are designated cycle paths.
However, we often come across pedestrians walking along the cycle side of the paths and, after politely ringing our bells to alert them of our presence, we are often verbally abused, which is probably why some people are put off from using it.
We often come across dog waste which is also unacceptable.
I would also like to comment about the point where you have to cross the road to continue on the cycle path. This is a very busy road with a bend in both directions and quite dangerous to cross. A crossing of some sort would make this much safer.
This cycle path is for cyclists, dog walkers and pedestrians, so why can't we all behave in a civilised manner so it can be enjoyed by all?
Heidi Page,
via email.
Support for wind farm
Re: Wind Power Renewables Ltd, wind farm, Wyverstone.
I am writing to pledge both my and the local Green Party's support for Wind Power Renewables Ltd's application to construct wind turbines near Wyverstonek.
Dangerous climate change is the greatest threat the human race has ever faced. Man-made greenhouse gas emissions, notably carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels, have been shown to be the cause of global warming by every meaningful study commissioned.
Action is needed to reduce these emissions now. Replacing dirty, fossil fuel-burning power stations with clean wind technology is one of the key battlegrounds in saving our planet for future generations to enjoy.
The UK has finally set itself worthwhile targets, including an 80 per cent cut in emissions by 2050, but this target is meaningless if planning applications are consistently turned down by local authorities who are worried about votes and buckle under the pressure of groups fretting over house prices. These times call for a return to the great British Dunkirk spirit rather than the nimby-ism that is all too prevalent in modern society.
I should stress that it is not the Green Party policy to support each and every application, rather to examine each proposal on a case by case basis. The site at Wyverstone is not a designated site for nature conservation or landscape quality and, as such, appears to be perfectly suitable for a wind farm.
I sincerely hope the planning department considers the effects its actions will have on future generations when making a final decision.
Rupert Read,
Eastern region Green Party lead candidate, European Elections 2009.
Disgusted by drivers
I would just like to say how disgusted I am with the drivers who totally ignored a young chap I know. He is only 16 and he came off his moped at around 3pm on October 31, at the Risbygate roundabout, in Bury St Edmunds. He laid in the road trying his best to get to safety and the cars were going round him, nobody offered to assist.
What a world we live in nowadays – it stinks.
D C Hewitt,
Caie Walk, Bury St Edmunds.
Enough is enough
Oh dear, madam spokeswoman, your slips are showing (Moreton Hall flats plan is a 'disgrace', Bury Free Press, October 31).
These are not small blocks of flats, but 26 flats, on three floors, which equals a giant footprint of nine flats per floor and, as there is no planning permission as yet, how do you know that 50 per cent is affordable housing? Or is this a box already ticked?
Also, who, in the present financial climate, is going to build them? Not a private developer, more likely a housing association. Is this another box ticked?
For too long, Moreton Hall has been the goose that lays the golden egg for Bury St Edmunds, but this is not a pantomime. Real people live here and 25 years of building is long enough.
It is time the tail stopped wagging the dog. Bury belongs to the people, not the council.
Mr J Waller,
Sutton Close,
Bury St Edmunds.
Get all the facts right
I find it amazing that, when council leaders are proposing allowance increases – 20 per cent for Sara Mildmay-White and 44 per cent for John Griffiths – the figures given are exactly right.
But, when Cllr Mildmay-White tries to explain the letting of the arc units (Letters, October 24), she says: "Twenty-three of the units have been let or are under offer, the let units represent approximately 75 per cent of the floor space and the under-offer units another 10 per cent (85 per cent in total). There is one of the larger units left (not let or under offer), the remaining 15 per cent of floor space consists mainly of smaller units, roughly 15 in total."
Cllr Mildmay wants to give us the facts. Then let us have them. Forget your 'approximately', 'mainly' and 'roughly' percentages – tell us.
How many units are there in total to let? How many have been let? How many are under offer? How many retailers of the old town-vacated units are relet? How many retailers are closing down because of the arc development?
Tell us the truth, Cllr Mildmay-White – not what you want us to hear – then you might just begin to earn your 20 per cent increase, funded through Council Tax-payers' money, by the way.
Vic Edmunds,
Fornham All Saints.
Don't just blame banks
It is common to see the banks being blamed for the current economic crisis, but that is far too easy a solution. It would be just as easy to blame local authority planning departments.
Before they erupt in protest, it is worth looking at the cause of the deeper crisis in the UK.
The problem in America started in their housing sector, which is where the problem lies in the UK. In Germany, house prices generally vary by only half of one per cent each year. The year before the crisis started, house prices in Germany fell by 0.48 per cent and that was greeted as good news, helping families to buy homes. In the UK, soaring house prices have for far too long been seen as good news.
We have a society split between those sitting on property, the desperation of those trying to buy, and those who have bought – encouraged by banks and mortgage companies – who find they have extended beyond their means.
The banks lending on the basis of rising house prices rather than the reality of market forces and the laws of supply and demand have not just caught a cold. A raging fever has set in, fuelled by panic and fear for the economic reality they had long forgotten. Of course many of the banks have 'let go' the more experienced senior managers, favouring lower cost younger managers driven by a desire to prove themselves.
High house prices are the source of the problem. Why are they so high? In the rest of the world they have no qualms about building on green land. In the UK we have a paranoia fuelled by various lobby groups, along with a natural desire to retain England's green and pleasant land and protect the environment. That is understandable, but it ignores the facts. Only 11 per cent of the UK has buildings on it – 89 per cent is green land. No wonder councils struggle to find brownfield sites. No wonder on those sites housing is condensed.
Our own council is seeking support to scrap village settlement boundaries and ban further house building in small villages in the borough.
We have used the planning process to distort the natural market and created misery and desperation and debt for millions of people in the UK who want to own their own homes.
It's time for a change.
Cllr David Chappell,
Fornham All Saints.
Shaken up by stumble
On Saturday, October 18, while making my way from the old Cattle Market parking area to the shops, I was unlucky enough to stumble and fall, causing cuts and abrasions, not to mention a considerable shaking-up for a 75-year-old.
I would like to thank a number of people unknown, who gave or offered assistance in my time of need.
It was very reassuring to find that old-fashioned kindness is alive and flourishing.
Bowers Motorcycles were kind enough to allow me to use their showroom to re-orientate myself and the paramedics who attended to me were both efficient and sympathetic, before satisfying themselves I could continue on my way.
Again, many thanks.
Rosemary Winhall,
Edwardstone,
Sudbury.
Trolley dash
On Saturday afternoon I left my handbag hanging from a trolley in Sainsbury's car park, in Bury St Edmunds. I did not notice for four hours and was distraught when I realised.
Please could I say a huge thank you to the person who handed it to customer services (they didn't leave a name). I moved to Worcester on Sunday to start a new job on Monday and having to cancel all my cards and mobile phone would have been unbearable!
Whoever you are, you have no idea how grateful I am to you.
Hayleigh Barnett,
Stow Road, Ixworth/Worcester.
No question of subsidies
I would like to answer a question raised about car parking for home-owners in the arc development.
The owners will have parking permits and 24-hour access to the underground car park. These spaces were built and paid for by Centros. They will be shared with shoppers and other users, thus making best use of spaces which otherwise may stand empty while home-owners are away.
The council will own and run the car park and the income it earns from all the spaces contributes to the cost of providing council services. There is no question of the council subsidising the developer or the home owners.
Sara Mildmay-White,
Bury St Edmunds Area Working Party.
Thank you
PLEASE may we thank the woman and man who stopped to help our mum who had a fall in College Lane, last Monday?
It was kind of the woman to stay with mum while the man went to fetch the warden. After a visit to A&E, she was allowed home. Also thanks to the paramedics.
All is well, many thanks.
The daughters of Mrs Potter,
Bury St Edmunds.
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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