Readers' letters - August 30

Given that the concrete bollard at the top of Corporation Street has been knocked over so many times I have lost count due, it seems, to people not seeing it, I found it absolutely jaw-dropping to see that the council have now replaced it with the remaining, unsmashed section of the bollard, so that it looks like no more than a stub.

Thus the council, it seems, are being stubborn in having their own way or is it a case now of this stub born out of stupidity? What a brilliant idea ... not!

Replace a bollard with a smaller one and therefore more likely not to be seen and thus more likely to be hit yet again.

Well, I for one will give it a week and, if it’s not gone by then, maybe I’ll hire a bulldozer to make sure. When will the council and its officers get it into their heads that this is a completely useless bit of street furniture?

Come on council, you got an award for removing street furniture which, I must hasten to add, was rarely hit/knocked down, only to replace it with a concrete bollard now reduced to a stub.

Just who on the council thinks having a stub of concrete on the road is acceptable in any shape or form? Come on, own up? Nah, didn’t think so!

Too ashamed to raise one’s head above the parapet or even this stub, are we? You are an embarrassment to Preston and to Lancashire.

Neil Swindlehurst, Walmer Bridge

Change driving shoppers away

The story ‘Driven Out’ (LEP August 23) gave a valid argument against the controversial shared space scheme which is causing chaos and congestion, in turn having an adverse effect on trade. However, there is another perspective. The removal of zebra crossings and pedestrian controlled lights creates a risk for pedestrians. We now have ‘grey areas’ which are supposedly the safest places to cross.

As these have no legal standing, a claim in the event of an accident would be problematic to pursue. Blurring the boundaries between pedestrians and vehicle users has created an unacceptably dangerous situation. I have been involved in near misses while competing with drivers to cross the road. This is despite using the different coloured paving. For this reason I too am ‘driven out’ of the city centre in favour of towns and cities that have pedestrianised shopping areas.

I don’t need to travel far to find one either. Even London has retained its pedestrian controlled lights. If the planners and officials believe shared space is so desirable, why isn’t it being rolled out all over the county or even country? If we are to be a forward-thinking city which wants to attract visitors and its own folk to the city centre, let’s keep them safe. I hope it doesn’t take a serious accident to prompt remedial action.

Name and address supplied

Dream behind super hospital

To borrow a phrase “I have a dream”, I dream that a small bunch of bean-counters is making a presentation to the management team at a Health Service Trust. They explain it is obviously ludicrous to run two hospitals – two lots of heating bills, two lots of maintenance costs, two lots of salaries for doctors and for nursing staff.

Obvious answer is to close one of the hospitals. But wait! That might cause a public backlash. Let’s fog the issue by suggesting all sorts of fanciful schemes like knocking down both multi-million hospitals and paying more millions to buy a new suite and build from scratch.

In reality, of course, we will keep the bigger hospital, knock down the smaller one, sell its site for housing land and make millions instead of losing them. My dream couldn’t possibly be true – could it?

James M Nelson, Chorley

GB will be great after EU exit

All this talk about the oldies voting out of the EU gets my goat. What I want to know is, if we were remaining in the EU, I wonder if we would have all these people complaining?

I am sure we oldies would not be complaining. It was a democratic vote and should be accepted with good grace. But it’s not been accepted by these people now trying to divide the country.

We were a great country before we went into the EU, and we will be again in time, but the young ones do not have the patience or the foresight to see this. All they see is their holidays costing more and getting abroad.

There is more to life than holidays, we need our independence back and our laws governed by us not the EU. As for these racist people now shouting insults at the immigrants already in this country, some over many years, these immigrants should be left in peace, they have earned the right to be here.

It is the ones now trying to get here we have to control.

Name and address supplied

Bills fuelling overseas firms

For the UK to meet its climate targets by 2025, we need to erect one new wind turbine per hour for the next nine years just to keep the lights on. That would be 78,624 turbines, where do we fancy having those in the UK?

And that’s not keeping us warm and fed. That’s why we need gas. Twenty two million homes (84 per cent of us) are using gas central heating while 63 per cent of us cook our dinner using gas. Lately, around 50 per cent of our power generation has been provided by gas.

We presently send £4.5bn every year – the equivalent of £500,000 every hour – overseas in payment for imported gas. In 2004 we were self-sufficient for gas. The UK has an excellent gas infrastructure to provide heating to the vast majority of homes.

Think of the expense to householders converting their homes to electric and the higher consumer charges for that power.

Electric is not as cheap as gas. Imagine the extra infrastructure required by the National Grid to be able to cope. Scare stories abound but one thing is for sure, £500,000 an hour going to foreign lands when the UK economy could be benefitting, now that is scary.

Lorraine Allanson, via email