I WRITE in response to the article “Row over police shake-up plan in Wirral” (Liverpool Daily Post, October 10).

Over recent years, there has been a welcome return to “neighbourhood community policing”, which has resulted in a much closer working relationship between elected members, the local police and many other agencies. It has also brought reassurance to local people who see the police in their community, and it brings a focal point and personal touch to what is, in many ways, an impersonal service, and has seen dramatic reductions in crime in our communities.

Neighbourhood/community policing relies on “community”, and removal of any of the community police stations across Wirral is something that would surely dilute the service and as such should be opposed by everyone.

I am also disturbed by reports that police response vehicles will be based at the new ACC in Birkenhead. Currently, if people in Moreton or Wallasey call 999, they can expect response vehicles to attend from either Manor Road or Upton. Leah Fraser is quite right: what if the bridges are up? Surely, that will delay any response to some of the homes in Wallasey.

We need to be careful that all the good work that has been done over recent years in the fight against crime is not undone by ill-judged schemes.

I am not surprised that the chairman of the Police Authority would like us all to stop talking about police station closures. However, I can assure him that the Conservatives in Moreton and Wallasey will not.

Chris Blakeley,Conservative councillor for Moreton West and Saughall Massie

Money for banks

ISN’T it nice to know there is so much money in the country – for banks?

Any foreign visitor to most British cities, including Liverpool, would think this was a comparatively poor European country.

The housing is for the most part standardised and slipshod. There is the feel of decay in nearly all the out-of-town (also out-of-sight) estates, where the shops are boarded-up and the real unemployment, as opposed to the massaged figures, is very high.

But the banks are in trouble, so billions of pounds become available. I actually heard “trillions” mentioned on one broadcast.

Where has it been all these years? Why haven’t people in real need had any of it? Look at the deplorable conditions, for patients and staff, in many old people’s homes. Money could have been used there, surely, or what about our schools and hospitals?

Now we are told that when (if?) the banks’ share prices start rising again, our involuntary investment will be repaid with tax cuts. Who do they think they are kidding? It will all disappear.

Peter McVey, Bootle

Get the MMIX right

I WAS wondering when the penny would drop with the Culture Company about its dreadful 08 logo. At last, they have twigged that, in less than three months’ time, all its banners and designs will look sadly out of date. Their answer: another £150,000 please for more design consultants.

But the solution is already out there. Yes, the 2009 Appreciation Society, that body with no membership and no overpaid staff, is poised to fill this cultural vacuum and save us all a lot of money, too!

We have already produced a bright and friendly yellow badge that is a logo and mission statement all in one: a simple ‘09 surrounded with “Liverpool – IN THE MMIX” (2009 in Roman figures). The badge has sold like hot cakes at News from Nowhere books on Bold Street. We could make a few more and promise to sell them at cost price!

OK, it’s a solution for just one year.

But this would give the city time to get its act together.

Jeremy Hawthorn, L8

Dodgy landlords

IF IT is OK for landlords to put up “name and shame” signs outside the homes of tenants struggling with rent arrears, is it OK for tenants to do the same against dodgy landlords?

For every bad tenant, there is a landlord who fails to return deposits, fails to repair ancient appliances, ignores damp or feels free to let himself in at whim.

I found myself at the mercy of one such landlord recently who declined to return any of my deposit simply by ignoring my calls.

If you’re not eligible for legal aid but you can’t afford £130 per hour for a solicitor, you’re pretty much powerless as a tenant.

Some landlords, grown fat from portfolios of buy-to-lets, act with impunity because they know you are unlikely to have the time or financial clout to seek justice.

Private landlords ought to be strictly regulated; tenants need to be given a break.

M Brady, Crosby

Leander’s return

I REFER to the article, Full Steam Ahead for Trip into the Past (DP, Oct 9), in which Peter Elson states that the Daily Post’s York Yuletide Express on December 14 will feature the first visit to Liverpool of the Jubilee class steam locomotive Leander since withdrawal in 1964.

This is not true, as I photographed this loco leaving Earlestown in 1980 en route to Liverpool as part of a series of steam hauled specials during the 150th anniversary of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. This photograph takes pride of place in my home.

Therefore, it is 28 years since Leander last visited Liverpool and not 44 years.

Brian Pearson, Golborne

Football fans at play

WELCOME to the world of the mean-spirited Evertonian. I refer, of course, to the letter by Tony Higgins (“Disgruntled Evertonian”), who bemoans the fact that The Shankly Show is currently enjoying a very successful run at the Royal Court.

More specifically, he thinks that there should be shows of an Everton theme, naming Harry Catterick and Dixie Dean as possible subjects.

If Tony had checked, he would have known that the Dixie Dean story was very recently aired at Crosby Civic Centre.

As a Red, I personally have no problem with the Dixie Dean Story; why should I? Similarly, I do not remember an outcry from fellow Reds that this show was on.

If Tony thinks that the Harry Catterick story will pull them in, then fine, he should get in touch with the Royal Court directly, but I doubt that it would. From what I am told, Mr Catterick was a good manager, but was not a personality in the same way as Bill Shankly.

Shankly was a one-off, a larger- than-life character, and his story makes for a most entertaining evening.

Reds, get along before it finishes its run on October 18 – you will love it.

Dave Moore (Exasperated Red)

A bitter joke

IN RESPONSE to Tony Higgins’s letter, I believe the Royal Court Theatre will be serving a special beer in the bar before the Shankly show – Everton Bitter.

Only joking – but his letter really does nothing to dispel the view about Evertonians being bitter towards Liverpool. If he wants people to stop thinking this, then he’s going totally the wrong way about it. Quite frankly, I have no time for this sort of thing at all.

Philip Ion, Greasby

Great Dixie show

TONY HIGGINS, in his letter of October 10, asks where is the Dixie Dean show and the Harry Catterick show? Well, I don’t know about Catterick but the Dixie Dean show was on at Crosby Civic Theatre in May this year and just last month was performed at the University. It was excellent, too. Who knows, maybe some time it will make its way to the Royal Court.

H James, Widnes

Save HMS Intrepid

ANOTHER lost opportunity, I see. HMS Intrepid (hero of the Falklands) is now due to be broken up and recycled. Why not recycle it as a tourist attraction? We cannot be letting too many options slip past us. We saved the lightship so let us set up a floating museum and save HMS Intrepid.

A Bowling, Waterloo

City transformed

I TOTALLY agree with your letter writer on Friday about Liverpool One. I walked through the restaurant section last week and out the other side, and I felt as though I was stepping into a whole other city.

I spent a good hour wandering around, trying to picture where the old Radio Merseyside studios used to be but I am very impressed with the new buildings and look forward to seeing the rest, which are still to come.

Mrs E Hughes, Allerton

Julia’s memories

THERE are so many ways to make money out of The Beatles that sometimes it feels as though there is a book, film, programme or CD out every day trying to exploit the memory of at least one of them.

So I feel for Julia Lennon, who spoke out last week about new claims made about her family.

Good on her for speaking her mind.

Ms Ann Quigley, Woolton