Letters to the Editor - 06th June 2008

Jun 6 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

No need for objections

I CAN’T understand these petty councillors finding reasons to object to the “Tesco” stadium idea in Kirkby. Has the question been asked “can Everton afford to fund a stadium elsewhere?” If they took on a debt for it, would they be able to repay?

When Liverpool One was put on paper, did the surrounding councils object that it would take trade away from them? What about the Trafford Centre, all the new shops built in Southport?

I believe what it all comes down to is councillors who are “Evertonians” trying to curry favour to win later elections or just supporting KEIOC.

Either way, it’s not what they were elected for, to voice their own opinions, they were elected to represent the views of their constituents and not all of them are against the move.

It’s about time the interfering councillors looked at the matters that have a bigger concern, knife crime, guns, bad housing, unruly gangs on the streets, inconsiderate people with dogs dirtying everywhere, our transport system, etc.

A recent comment regarding “ground sharing” and naming came from another “Blue” voicing their own opinion.

How could either club gain financial funding without the facility to “sell” the ground name (as in Emirates)? Would it mean taking the name signs down before each game to be replaced by the other?

We could also play every Saturday/Sunday plus cup games on Tuesdays, UEFA games on Wednesday’s and European Championship games on Thursdays.

I’m sure the local residents would love to see that happen and the lorries delivering new turf every so often to replace the quickly worn grass.

I have lived in the shadow of Goodison for 25 years and never had any bother with match days. Parking permits are a big help, and plenty of police in the area means crime drops.

Even better, the council comes out and cleans the surrounding area for litter and cleansing the streets. How often does that happen in Kirkby at present?

Bob Breen, via email

Farcical idea

IT’S about time Cllr Bradley was brought to book on his farcical idea of a joint stadium.

He points out that it is economical to share a stadium. It is also "economical" for Tesco and Asda to share a distribution warehouse.

It’s economical for the Liberal Democrats and Labour to get together and share their offices and share their leaflets.

Competition is another word Mr Bradley should consider.

Also, both teams want different things – Liverpool would fill a 65,000-seater stadium – Everton would be playing to a half-empty stadium most weeks which psychologically is a poor substitute to playing in front of a near full 40,000-seater stadium.

I would also advise Cllr Bradley to pick up his phone and make contact with the presidents of AC Milan and Inter Milan and ask them just why it is they are looking to move away from the "panacea" of a shared stadium.

They are the shining example always thrown up of the potential success, when the reality is that neither club like it and AC Milan are looking to move away to their own stadium.

Perhaps then we can finally, once and for all, put this one to bed.

Trevor Johnson, Childwall

Best interests

KNOWSLEY Council officials and my friend Cllr Steve Foulkes, of Wirral Council, seem both to have suffered some form of amnesia.

Steve suggests that the debate over objections Liverpool and other authorities have over the Tesco/Knowsley plans for Kirkby Town centre does not bode well for future relationships between each other.

Can I remind both that Knowsley Council objected to plans for a Tesco superstore on the site of Stonebridge Cross, on the East Lancashire Road, in Liverpool, only a short while ago, for the reason that it would impact on Kirby town centre?

Somewhat ironic, then, that they now complain when the shoe is on the other foot.

With regard to the complaint that due process was not followed, in that I was allowed to speak at a planning committee meeting in my own city as a season ticket holder of EFC.

Let me be clear to both EFC and Knowsley Council, you will not silence me on speaking out and representing what I believe to be in the best interests of the people of Liverpool, that is what I am elected to do.

I want Knowsley/Kirby to be transformed and regenerated; however, it should not be detrimental to other communities in Liverpool.

Cllr Joe Anderson, leader, Liverpool Labour Group

On the buses

IN RESPONSE to the letter of P Winstanley (Daily Post, June 4), I would point out that public transport users also wish to board, and alight from, buses at locations between Garston and the city centre.

It is important, therefore, that there is a regular bus service along Riverside Drive.

However, this should not be provided by re-routing an existing, well-used service, thereby penalising people in the vicinity of Park Road and Aigburth Road.

The criticism by the letter writer of Cllr Millea, was unfair.

I am sure that there are many users of the public transport system, and indeed potential, and non-users, who will agree with the comments of Cllr Millea.

Arriva’s decision is somewhat premature.

Not only has a huge new shopping centre opened, but there are lots of other reasons for people to visit the city centre.

The same can also be said for the Speke and Garston areas.

In this area, which is beyond the operation of most bus companies, there are growing employment opportunities, a greatly expanded retail park, an increase in passengers travelling through Liverpool Airport, and other attractions such as Speke Hall.

What is required are more bus services, passing through and, going to more destinations.

If more people are to be encouraged to use public transport, then it has to be more convenient and there has to be greater incentive.

Paul Slater, South Liverpool

Reduced service

YOUR reader from L12 doesn't know me very well if s/he thinks I am not well acquainted with bus services in Garston and South Liverpool (Letters, June 4).

The whole point of my objection to the withdrawal of the 48a was not in the context of a Southport to John Lennon Airport route, but the enhancement of services from the city centre to Speke route, which, despite your reader's views, is not so well served, as many of the buses terminate in Garston, and do not run to Speke.

The net effect on most of the route from the city centre to Speke has seen a reduction of six buses per hour, at a time when bus patronage is declining.

If we cannot encourage people in the most deprived part of the city to use buses, because their opportunity to do so is further reduced, then we never will.

I wish I had the space to give a full explanation of how the service has been reduced from what it was before the withdrawal of the 48a, never mind the effect of doing so.

Cllr Peter Millea, Cressington Ward Liberal Democrats

Concert food

FURTHER to previous correspondence on the subject of not being able to take food into stadia concerts, I’d like to agree with Frank Rogers of Bromborough (DP, June 4) that it is wrong to expect people not to take their own food and drink into the Paul McCartney concert at Anfield.

This event lasted six hours and it is, to quote the late Sid James, a diabolical liberty to force an audience who have already paid handsomely for their tickets to buy over-priced food and drink in the site because there is no alternative.

As Mr Rogers says, certain drinks in bottles can be considered a risk, but what is the harm in taking homemade sandwiches and packets of crisps into the venue?

Even in this age of overbearing security, healthy and safety regulations, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a threat from these items – other than the most important one of all: reducing the profitability of the event to the organisers.

Nothing like making a captive public pay through the nose, eh?

N Edmunds, via email

Asylum support

WE ARE concerned that the writer of “At capacity” (Daily Post, June 3) is in need of some factual information.

M Matthews feels asylum seekers have “flooded the city”, but according to the latest Home Office statistics they make up just 0.4% of Liverpool’s population.

The system of dispersal means that asylum seekers do not have a choice over where they live and are sent to many different parts of the country depending on resources.

Councils do not support them.

The views of M Matthews are understandable, considering the misinformation that we get every day.

But it is important that everyone gets the facts right before attacking a group of people who have already fled persecution.

To find out more about refugees, come and see Asylum Dialogues at the Quaker Meeting House in town on June 17, from 6.30pm. Please email liverpooliceandfire.co.uk to book.

Lila Khodja, Refugee Awareness Project, Refugee Action, Liverpool

Lost loved ones

JUNE 21 is Memorial Day, where at World Cancer Research Fund we remember those who have lost their lives to cancer.

This year, we are marking Memorial Day with our Wildflower Appeal by asking people in the local area to plant seeds in memory of a loved one.

The money raised will help World Cancer Research Fund continue to fund its research into cancer prevention.

To make a donation, visit www.wcrf-uk.org/memorialday or call 020 7343 4205.

Teresa Nightingale, World Cancer Research Fund