Readers' letters - January 23

When I was a child, I used to do what was then called ‘errands’ for my mum.

For more letters: https://www.lep.co.uk/news/your-say/readers-letters-january-19-1-8968696

I would take her bags and shopping list, along with a basket for loose vegetables, using them on the outward trip to carry returnable bottles to her chosen shop.

Root veg – carrots, potatoes, onions – would be weighed straight into my basket.

Butter and cheese was cut off large blocks and wrapped in greaseproof paper. Bacon was sliced on a bacon slicer.

Biscuits were in glass- topped tin boxes and you looked in, chose what you wanted and the shop assistant came with her brown paper bags and weighed your choice for you so it was hygienically done.

Sugar, rice and dry goods were in paper wrapping and so forth while the delight of choosing sweets from a glass jar on the shelf was, and still is, memorable. Milk and cream, by the way, came from the dairy, the milkman or the shop.

I know people work now and want things quickly, but so we did then and we got by.

The choice has to be ours to decide that, if we want to save our planet from plastic and unnecessary packaging, then we have to rethink our lifestyles, and yes... maybe suffer a little inconvenience while doing so.

And it can be done easily.

I have three food outlets near to where I live, only one of which (and possibly soon to go) is a small supermarket type store.

They all sell fruit, vegetables, eggs, cheese, fresh meat, fish and bakery items loose and most of it, along with dairy products, are locally sourced, so giving employment to other small businesses in the area. It may cost slightly more to shop at them but it actually is cost- effective as you simply buy just what you need, no more, and it’s a lot less than piling all and sundry into a trolley. You can still go by car and park, so no heavy lugging of full bags about. And yes! I do still use supermarkets from time to time. Just offering food for thought!

Add to this, the quality is superb. Job sorted!

Christine Cross

Broughton

services

Get rid of crime commissioners

The crime commissioner is asking if we would pay more council tax.

He must think OAPs and the general public have money to throw around like there is no tomorrow.

It is the same each year. They always want the biggest cut of the council tax after LCC and the borough council. For 2016/2017, it is £108.15 – an increase of £2. The fire service only asked for £43.67 – £1 more.

The police service has been going for well over 100 years, they did not need crime commissioners then and I don’t see why they need them now.

Get shut of them and give their wages to the police budget.

Why should we pay more for a service that went down the pan long ago?

It’s disgusting.

It does not matter which party we put in government. They all promise the earth at election times and never deliver when in government.

Mrs May says she values the NHS staff, which is rubbish when they are leaving in their droves.

You only have to look at the TV, for instance, Wanted Down Under Australia, where nurses can double their wages and work fewer hours.

The way she is going, there will be no NHS because there will not be enough trained nurses.

It is time this country stood up to the Government and made it deliver on its promises instead of making budget cuts and expecting the rest of us to pay extra.

S Marshall

OAP

Clayton-Le-Woods

services

Paying more for much less

With Chorley Council just announcing a 2.99 per cent rise in council tax and, no doubt, Lancashire County Council and the police and fire service soon to be announcing inflation-busting increases, I find this a bitter pill to swallow.

Over the last few years, we have seen in Chorley, and the surrounding areas, an explosion of house building (Buckshaw, Duxbury, Duke Street to name just a few), with each of these additional properties paying council tax of between £1,500 and £2,000 per annum.

I would like to ask where this additional income has gone?

There certainly aren’t any extra doctors or dentists.

In fact, our very own A & E is under threat of closure, the roads are full to capacity, with again no additional roads being built, adding time to our journey to and from work, and certainly no extra secondary schools are being built, meaning pressure on places is at a record high.

Police numbers are being cut, yet year on year we are paying more for less, with some instances of us paying twice (green waste refuse collection springs to mind).

So a question to all councillors, just where is the additional money being spent?

I, for one, have had enough and I would be interested in other readers’ views.

Charles Garstang

Chorley

politics

MPs sleeping on the job

So Sir Desmond Swayne does his sleeping in the House of Commons does he?

Clearly he is not fit to represent his constituents if he cannot be bothered to stay awake and listen to what is going on in there. I suppose him sleeping is no different to those who are not there at all.

Peter Hyde via email