Let PNE concentrate on games
I note that Preston councillors are again thinking about introducing a "residents only" parking scheme around Deepdale on match days.
I agree with this proposal but think that any discussions should be held over until the end of this season in 10 months' time. This will allow all at Preston North End to concentrate 100% on gaining promotion without any distractions.
The delay will also allow time to see if the new car park at Deepdale has any impact on the car parking problems.
Should councillors hold a vote on this issue it will be interesting to see exactly which of them will be eligible to vote.
Councillors who are PNE season ticket holders would have to declare an interest.
Under the same rules I think that all the Conservatives should be in the same position on the car parking issue and make themselves ineligible to vote.
The Conservative Club on Blackpool Road has been charging football fans to park on match days for at least the last 12 months.
It should be interesting...

Name and address supplied

Council works hard for ethnic diversity
I am writing with reference to your July 3 article relating to the results of the LEP survey into racial integration in Preston.
There was a small response to a very important issue for the future of our city.
Preston has a vibrant community because of its diversity. Along with its partners in Preston Strategic Partnership, the council promotes opportunities for people from different backgrounds to meet and socialise.
An example is the Streetwise sports programme, which aims to encourage young people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds to take part in dance, basketball and football.
The council also supports the work of Preston Faith Forum, which encourages understanding between faiths.
We help to host Preston Mela and the Caribbean Carnival, two major events attracting thousands.
The council also recognises there can be tensions within and between all communities and is working to ensure Preston is a safe place to live and one which we can all be proud of.

Coun Kate Calder, Cabinet member for community engagement and community safety, Preston City Council

Roadworks have not improved blind spot
After months of complaining to my local councillors and Lancashire County Council about the dangerous junction outside my flat, something is finally being done. But I can't say I'm happy about it.
I'm amazed that there hasn't been someone killed at the junction of Avenham Lane and Oxford Street in Preston city centre. There is zero visibility when trying to pull out of Oxford Street, thanks to a high wall and hedges surrounding the grounds to the Sandown Court tower block and rarely an hour goes by when there isn't a screech of brakes and car horns beeping.
All that needs to be done is for the wall to be lowered - a simple and cheap way to make it safer.
But LCC has decided to change the junction, moving the pavements by a metre on each side and raising it up in the middle to create a "table top" junction with bumps on each of the four entry points.
This isn't going to make much difference - the visibility will still be zero and vehicles will just be slowing down slightly. Of course, we taxpayers will be footing the bill.
The work started at the beginning of March with workmen digging up the road at 6am on Saturday and Sunday mornings over two weeks. Then they disappeared.
This weekend they finally returned to complete it - 6am on Sunday.
I can just imagine the fuss if a team of trucks rolled into a leafy Fulwood residential area at this time of day on a weekend.

Tired resident
(full name and address supplied)

Nowhere to go
Well done whoever decided not only to restrict the south west exit to the city by organising road works at the junction of Corporation Street and Fishergate, causing huge delays at rush hour...
But then to block off the south eastern exit by shutting Avenham. Instead of relieving the blockage in Fishergate, they have compounded the problem by forcing traffic from Winckley Square that way. You couldn't make it up.

Bemused, Lostock Hall

No help at the end of the phone line
I phoned the national domestic violence helpline after it was advertised in the LEP on June 13.
After 15 minutes of being kept on hold and being told of the multiplicity of services provided regionally, nationally and of course locally, I gave up and put the phone down.
So, if you suffer from domestic violence, basically the response appears to be, hang on and hang the consequences.
Name and address supplied
Babies should have first gift of faith
Further to your story about the baby who was refused baptism and the letter from "Older RC lady", she may be right to feel that the parents were not discriminated against - but the baby was.
No baptism is a "sham", because it brings with it the gift of faith.
The parents could have chosen a non Roman Catholic church but perhaps they intended an RC school for their child too, thus providing a good grounding in the faith.
Many children from good practising Catholic homes give up the Church when they reach teenage and adult years and can choose for themselves.
The Church should grasp every chance to gather souls, especially as congregations are diminishing fast.

RC Grandmother
(full name and address supplied)

EU a bigger issue in our freedom fight
While there was much to admire in David Davis's resignation from the front benches to fight the Haltemprice and Howden by-election on a platform of standing up for our ancient freedoms, these are about to be swept aside by our continued membership of the EU in any event.
Mr Davis would be much better standing up for our electoral rights, where promises made about a referendum on any further changes to our EU governance, are actually kept.
All of the UK's present ills will pale into insignificance once we find ourselves governed from Brussels and our present MPs become a rubber-stamping regional council.
John Tilley, The Oaks, Chorley
War of the words... but do people care?
The lunacy of political correctness just grows and grows.
Now a council has banned the term "brainstorming" in case it upsets epiletics.
This has happened even though the charities that deal with this serious problem don't give a hoot.
The fools have instructed staff to use the phrase "thought shower".
Clearly this could be insulting to people who have a phobia about washing...

Darryl Ashton, Wycombe Avenue, Blackpool

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