Readers' letters - February 8

I hear Lancashire County Council will be meeting shortly to discuss the future of the two household waste recycling plants, based in Leyland and Thornton.

It is expected that they are going to make the decision to close both plants in the coming months and send the annual 260,000 tonnes of waste to landfill instead.

I find it astonishing that, in this environmentally aware era, when other councils around the country are investing heavily in recycling technologies, our council is taking this retrograde step.

The underlying reason for this decision is to save money but I understand that the cost difference between running the plants and sending to landfill is approximately £750,000 a year and it is this cost differential which the council hope to save by closing the plants.

Whilst £750,000 sounds like a lot of money, when this is offset against the environmental impact, the loss of over 300 local jobs, and the fact that over £300m of public money was spent on building the facilities just over six years ago, it makes the decision to close the plants even more unbelievable.

Perhaps the saddest thing of all is that, when the plants were built, an educational facility was created, enabling thousands of the county’s primary school children to visit the plants to be educated in the importance of recycling.

Now, despite the fact these plants are currently diverting 90 per cent of all our household waste away from landfill, the message we are sending to our children is ‘recycling doesn’t work’.

I hope that when the councillors meet to determine the future of waste disposal, they don’t just blindly look at the bottom line and regress to dumping everything back to landfill instead of looking forward and considering the environmental impact issues affecting future generations.

Lynda Farren via email

Alternative way
already a bypass

Further to my thoughts on the projected Broughton Bypass (LEP Letters, January 28), I have noticed from the LEP just a week later that work has begun – with not so much as a fanfare, as a Neddie Seagoon wet raspberry!

What did draw my attention was the comment by County Hall bosses “warning people travelling through Broughton to allow more time for their journeys and to consider alternative routes...”

If that is the case, and the travelling public take heed of these comments, it then negates the need for the bypass and all the countless man-hours spent on ensuring this route and no other is the one.

After all, if there is an existing alternative route already, there’s your bypass!

I despair – have I said that before?

Martin Sutcliffe, Grimsargh

No sense in this insurance rise

I am a pensioner and, in 60 years of driving, have been fortunate not to have had an accident.

I have just received a letter from my insurers to say because of all the claims they have had from other drivers, they will be putting MY premiums up.

To me, that’s like me going into a bread shop to be told we’re charging YOU more for your bread because WE had a robbery the other day.

I went online to try to get a cheaper quote only to be told it was double what I am paying now.

An amount far exceeding the £500 I know would be the payout if I were to be in an accident as the insurers would not repair my car, they would just write it off as it’s 11 years old.

Other than having to be legal, there doesn’t seem to be any advantage.

It seems to me that it’s a one way money source but not to the motorist.

Malcolm Shedlow

Address supplied

Removing lines would be a risk

When I read that white lines are being erased from busy roads throughout the country in an attempt to slow motorists down, I wondered if the lunatics had taken over the asylum.

At a time when every experienced driver to whom I speak agrees that the quality of driving is steadily diminishing – not signalling in advance for a change of direction and failing to take up the correct position for a turn at a junction are but two of the many errors one sees every day – along comes this barmy suggestion.

Now these hopeless drivers are to be given carte blanche to drive on the wrong side of the road without committing a provable offence.

The experts are being ignored. The head of roads policy at the AA says “ without exaggeration it is true to say that a simple pot of paint can save lives.

“In particular, highly visible markings at the edge and centre of the road, that can be seen on a wet night, are enormously cost effective in saving lives”. Add to this the number of roads that are now unlit between midnight and 5.30am and it sounds like James Bond’s “Licence to Kill”.

The only reason that I can see for this dangerous suggestion is the cost saving in not buying expensive paint, together with the cost of carrying out the work. It is to be hoped that our council will ignore this hazardous idea.

Percy Stern, address supplied

Charity appeal for hospital

I am writing to you to ask for your support in regards to an upcoming charity event at HMP Kirkham, in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

I am a prisoner who is currently training to be a barber at the Joseph Lanzante Academy, which is based here at Kirkham.

One of our tutors, Debbie Davies, has a relation with a small child who was born without bones in her hand and is currently undergoing constructive surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Along with our main tutor, Rochelle Ryder, students on the course have got involved in various fund-raising activities for our upcoming charity event on February 12.

If you are able to assist us in any way, please could you contact our tutor Debbie Davies at [email protected] or Rochelle Ryder at HMP Kirkham on 01772 675418.

Chris, HMP Kirkham