Letters to the Editor - 18th June 2008

Jun 18 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Tourism is a boon for city

YOUR correspondent Cllr Nick Small is right when he says tourism is a massive opportunity to grow Liverpool and create new jobs (Daily Post Letters, June 13).

That’s why the city council spends £1.2m a year on our entire tourist information service.

We have an exceptional team working incredibly hard at our three tourist information outlets: the 08 Place, Albert Dock and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

The service they provide to the city’s residents and visitors is so good, it has been judged the best in the country by Enjoy England, the Government’s national tourism agency.

Cllr Small is wrong, however, when he implies we cannot afford to employ enough tourist information staff and we have to rely on volunteers.

The select committee report which he refers to clearly states there are sufficient staff to deal with the one million customer enquiries we receive every year.

Liverpool’s tourist information service is a success story.

Our staff clearly love Liverpool and should be applauded for their outstanding contribution in making our year as European Capital of Culture such a success.

I, for one, am immensely proud of their professionalism, dedication and enthusiasm.

Cllr Gary Millar, Executive member for Enterprise and Tourism

Tunnel fares woes

JOHN McGOLDRICK, of the Merseyside Tunnels Users Association, says yet again he wants tolls to be scrapped and parity with the Dartford Crossing (Daily Post, June 16).

There can be no parity because the Dartford Crossing is a franchise controlled by Central Government and the Mersey Tunnels are not.

The MTUA proposals would mean a massive increase in council tax for residents across our region – including Wirral.

Central government has said four times that it will not take over responsibility for the Mersey Tunnels.

Transport Minister Rosie Winterton again made the position clear less than two weeks ago in a written reply to Ben Chapman MP.

Mr McGoldrick and his half dozen fellow protesters should not have been shouting at the mouth of the Queensway Tunnel, but rather in the ears of those at Westminster.

Neil Scales,Chief executive and director general, Merseytravel

Care for the carers

NATIONAL Carers’ Week (June 9-15) has again highlighted the plight of the hundreds of people caring for relatives, partners and friends throughout the Merseyside area.

A major objective of the week- long campaign was to publicise the support available from organisations such as Liverpool Crossroads Caring for Carers.

While the week-long campaign was hugely successful and resulted in hundreds of calls from carers seeking support, there are still hundreds more out there unaware of the help they can access.

One in 10 people are carers but, amazingly, most people don’t see themselves as such. They do what needs to be done willingly – out of love and compassion – and seldom give their efforts a second thought.

But, however much carers want to do our best for others, the role can be time-consuming and stressful.

It can affect our own health, disrupt our family life and even make it difficult to hold down a job. Sadly, many are unaware of the help that is available.

I want to urge carers who need to take a regular break from their caring responsibilities – time to be themselves, time to rest, time to catch up with family and friends – to take time to visit www. liverpoolcrossroads.co.uk or contact the friendly and efficient team on 0845 051 1970 and let us help you take that break.

Penny Fell,Chief executive,Liverpool Crossroads Caring for Carers

The real EU cost

NORTH-WEST Euro MP Gary Titley reports that the European Union paid £115m in disaster relief to the UK, as though it were to the EU’s credit.

He says that he hopes that the UK Government will fully recognise this funding as a demonstration of support for the EU.

This is misleading. The only funds that the EU has are from the tax revenues of the member states. For every £2.80 of UK tax money sent to Brussels, only about £1 comes back to this country.

The £115m of disaster relief received actually cost the UK taxpayer £322m.

If the money had not been sent to Brussels, the missing £207m could have been well spent on flood relief.

Instead, it was used for the usual financial requirements of the EU such as funding the recently revealed expenses of Euro MPs.

Daniel Oxley, UKIP

Tunnel triumph

CONGRATULATIONS to the organisers of the “Under And Over The Mersey” event.

I was lucky enough to take part with my family and friends, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The event was really well organised, with hard ly any waiting around at all.

As we arrived in Birkenhead we were given our certificates, medals and DVD by a really friendly lady.

After a short wait, we were then bussed to the ferry terminal on a vintage open ender where the ferry awaited us.

The short trip across the Mersey was a fantastic way to end the day and to see the Echo Arena, Liverpool, in all of its glory was amazing.

The Lambananas situated throughout the city gave us all a smile, especially my nephews Christopher, Steven and Harry.

Well done, Liverpool.

Ian Sixsmith, Woolton

A sad loss

ONE can only imagine how the ex-trustees of LJMU must feel over the way that the board of trustees was abolished (Daily Post, Monday June 16).

I have known board member Aldie Robarts for many years, during which time he has spent much time and money supporting the university, and provided not one but two learning centres of excellence.

Aldie is a Canadian citizen, who adopted Liverpool and contributed to its welfare and prosperity as a successful businessman.

He feels passionately about giving young people the opportunity to learn.

I hope LJMU finds a way of keeping such trustees on board.

Robin Bird,retired newspaper editor, via email

Policy problems

I WAS disappointed to read the first public comment Cllr Mike Jones made as the new leader of the new Shadow Authority for Cheshire West & Chester, was about Ellesmere Port and Neston.

He seems to advocate a policy of the more people vote Tory the more likely they are to receive funding for services.

Is he really saying that, if people vote Labour or Lib-Dem or for any other Party for that matter, they will receive less than their fair share of resources?

Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council has gained significant extra funding for many regeneration initiatives over the last 10 years.

It has promoted and advocated significant regeneration projects, attracted significant European and Government regeneration funding. This takes time, and is always long in the planning, quite often five years from planning to completion, sometimes 10.

More recently, partnership funding with the Labour Government has achieved more, no mention of this in his letter.

Vale Royal too has only been controlled in the last few years by a coalition of Conservatives propped up on and off with Lib Dem support.

Regeneration here, too, has travelled a long path, which had its roots in a Labour Controlled Council and its “Northwich Vision” and “Frodsham Forward” initiatives.

Cllr Derek Bateman,Leader of the Labour Group,Cheshire West & Chester Shadow Authority

Research needed

RE: ALEXEI SAYLE’S Liverpool programmes.

I noticed in the second programme of the series that a statue to commemorate Nelson and his five most notable victories was yet again used to portray Liverpool’s involvement in the slave trade.

Do these people do any research or is their lack of local knowledge such that they think the monument is a slave trade apology?

Perhaps Alexei could explain the inscription around the monument “now is the time for every man to do his duty” and its relevance to slavery.

P Lambert, Netherton

What civil rights?

HARDLY a day passes without some news of yet further erosion of our civil liberties.

We are a country in which traffic wardens fine disabled drivers for inadvertently displaying their disabled badges upside down; councils fine householders for mistakes when recycling rubbish; police resources on the one hand are massively concentrated on catching errant motorists with the help of expensive gadgets of ever bewildering description and, on the other, timorously issue cautions and on-the-spot fines for serious offences hitherto within the domain of our courts, in order to manipulate crime statistics.

We are a land in which our every movement is monitored by cameras; with a government that issues on-the-spot fines for a minor infringements such as a sweet paper dropped on the pavement, which, on the other hand, regularly mislays confidential personal and financial data on almost its entire population, a country that, unlike its neighbour Ireland, denies its people a referendum over their future sovereignty.

How much longer will we sit back over-taxed, over-regulated and over-ruled until people with a sense of true patriotism and destiny replace our self-centred and egotistical politicians and rescue this country from the nightmare and oblivion of rule under the unseen and unelected oligarchy that represents the European Union and into which our failed and often disgraced politicians regularly disappear with the reward of office?

David Kirwan,Independent councillor, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council