Letters to the Editor - September 13th

Sep 13 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

End the whining

IN RESPONSE to Larry Neild’s article on Neptune’s New Brighton Plans (Daily Post, September 10).

As we are about to start Phase 1 of the Neptune plans with the brilliantly designed new Floral Pavilion Theatre, here we go again with the usual whining from the usual suspects to any sort of progress.

This is the last throw of a desperate opposition, who despite us listening time and time again and now saving the Marine Lake, which after all is the main reason the opposition group came into being, will still not compromise and are willing to throw away millions of pounds destined for New Brighton.

It is also interesting what the article doesn’t say. For instance, we are going to have a brand-new Theatre, 1,100-seater Cinema, revamped Marine Lake, outdoor swimming pool, café, bars and restaurants, and new sea defences put in place.

But it’s not just about these plans, but rather the changed economic landscape that it will bring, with leisure and tourism investors at long last sitting up and taking notice of New Brighton.

We are also about to start the £1m Pride in our Promenade initiative, which will completely revamp the promenade between Seacombe and New Brighton. This much-needed investment will also complement the Neptune plans.

As for a shopper’s paradise, New Brighton used to have shops in abundance, Woolworth’s, Lo/Cost supermarket, Maypole (all on Victoria Road) etc, not to mention the Ham and Egg parade on the promenade.

So let’s get real, this is the only show in town. Many members of the former opposition are now on board and it will revitalise New Brighton and Wirral and bring many more opportunities to its door, and as someone charged with bringing investment to the Wirral, who has lived in New Brighton for 40-odd years, I say bring it on.

Cllr Pat Hackett, New Brighton Ward, Wirral Borough Council Cabinet Member Regeneration & Planning Strategy

Man of action

MOST Liverpudlians will welcome news that Phil Redmond has been appointed deputy chairman of the revamped Capital of Culture board, responsible for the whole programme.

Of course, the need for changes on the board has been apparent for months, if not years.

Even so, it would be churlish not to welcome the belated move.

Mr Redmond is one of the few people able to combine art and money with success, as he has proved with his TV ventures.

He obviously has an understanding of popular and traditional culture, as well as lots of strong opinions, which will be known to readers of his column in the Daily Post.

If people now move fast, it might not be too late to save our Culture year, although the time already wasted has been lamentable. We must advance beyond the stage of blowing balloons and lighting fireworks. Culture is about more than that.

What has really happened here is that there has been a recognition that those who spend their time in meetings will never produce anything worthwhile. You need people of action.

It must be hoped that this lesson has not been learned too late.

R Smithers, Crosby

Sorry site

THE council cited health and safety reasons for cancelling the outdoor stages at this year’s Mathew Street Festival, due to the number of people expected and the loss of outdoor venues.

Totally unforeseen (were they blind?). They had lost the Pier Head and Chavasse Park due to ongoing construction work.

Amid the justified public anger over this year’s fiasco, and just in case nobody noticed, remember that these stunning outdoor performance arenas are lost forever.

When the great and the good are celebrating the opening of the new Grosvenor shopping centre, I hope they are careful where they pop their Champagne corks, as they are likely to fly off the edge of the new “pocket handkerchief” Chavasse Park.

All this, by the way, is to create a soulless backdrop to our wonderful Pier Head buildings – a sorry state of affairs for a World Heritage site.

DR Swift, Litherland

Schools cash

MANY schools are carrying large balances from year-to-year, I read in the Daily Post (September 11). In reporting this, you mention the views of a spokesperson from the NUT.

Governing bodies of schools have representatives of teachers; should she not be talking to her own members about how they can work to have the money spent for the good of the children?

The Government has increased spending on schools above inflation each year, and everyone seems to agree that the many problems in our society put greater demands on schools.

How about the teachers accepting their professional role and making sure that taxpayers’ money, which the government provides, is properly spent.

The days of militancy in our trade unions is gone. Now is the time for them to play a new and constructive role meeting our modern problems.

S Brown, L12

No tears

DESPITE apparent concerns over yet another supposedly stunning project being scuppered (Daily Post, Sept 7), I suspect few rail users are likely to shed any tears over the “collapse” of the proposed 27-storey apartment tower facing Lime Street station; surely one of the most inappropriate locations for a residential development with its accompanying “post-city centre movement strategy” traffic congestion.

Rail users still face the loss of welcoming and well-used facilities within the existing shopping arcade. Any revised development for this site would do well to provide for such needs, as well as re-addressing the traffic problems which have recently been further exacerbated by the re-sited taxi rank at the Skelhorne Street station entrance.

J Kennedy, L4

Rhys’s friends

IF ANYTHING good has come out of the terrible tragedy of Rhys Jones’s death, it is seeing his young friends on television who have spoken with maturity, eloquence, intelligence, compassion and humour about their great mate. They have put to shame the yobs who perpetrated this terrible crime and made them look like the losers they are.

The boys and girls I have seen are a credit to their parents and families, and to the school they attend, and I am sure they offered a great deal of consolation to the Jones family.

These children are on a level over and above that of the cowardly, mindless animals who have to “hunt” in gangs to gain some worthless kind of recognition. That will never happen because we have these young people growing up to be our future and who will achieve so much and bring the ignorant few to justice and shame.

Liverpool should feel honoured to have them in this city.

Name and address supplied

No martyr

SO DEAR little Kathleen was given an absolute discharge by Chester magistrates for putting her feet on the seats of a Merseyrail train?

Haven’t you any real news to print? Why go making a martyr out of some kid who seems to think she can do as she likes and get away with it?

Having travelled on Merseyrail trains for many years, I am getting fed up with youngsters who think so little of other people that they don’t think twice (if they think at all) about putting their great mucky feet on seats that other people are then expected to sit on.

I assume that, as a promising maths student, Kathleen can at least read. If so, why did she disregard the notices on the subject?

Dominic Ion, via email

Adorable cub

WHAT a cute photograph of the lion cub in today’s Daily Post (Wednesday, September 12).

Tejas, Chester Zoo’s newest arrival, not only looked adorable but will hopefully help to save his species from extinction.

It was wonderful to learn of people actually taking an interest in the creatures of this planet, rather than simply concentrating on their own materialistic, shallow lives.

How exhausting it is to listen to the conversations of young people on the bus, about new shops opening and the latest MP3 download they plan to buy.

What happened to all teenagers becoming vegetarians and trying self-righteously to save the planet.

It was irritating for my parents when I stopped eating meat at the age of 15, but I am sure they would have preferred that than for me to be obsessed with belongings and celebrities.

P Holden, via e-mail

Truancy

I AM not surprised at all to read that truancy is still a problem in our schools. But I am at a loss as to what more the schools or the Government can do to force parents to ensure their children go to school.

Perhaps what we should be addressing is making the children not want to go to school, rather than punishing the parents for failing to make sure that they do.

P Owens, Wavertree

Punishment

I IN no way condone the keeping of dangerous dogs, but I believe the jury was absolutely right to clear Ellie Lawrenson’s grandmother of manslaughter.

What happened to that little girl was tragic but what purpose would locking up her grandmother have served? She will surely punish herself every day of her life over what happened and that is enough.

L Wilkinson, Warrington

Strand work

YOUR correspondent T Williams (Daily Post Letters, September 12) is absolutely right about the ongoing work on The Strand.

Whoever thought we needed a promenade-style central reservation there needs their head feeling. What’s the betting they are digging it back up in a couple of years’ time?

N Gunning, Aigburth