Letters - March 22, 2019

The Wyre Labour Group recognise the incredible amount of work that went into the production of Wyre’s Local Plan, and we thank planning officers for their efforts.

Unfortunately, officers have been let down by the Conservative administration who haven’t provided the required direction. It’s bad enough that the plan is eight years late, but the Conservative administration have allowed the borough’s employment, transport, and open space problems to be swept under the carpet.

With around 9,000 homes to be built during the 20-year plan period we cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of previous decades, but by continuing to ignore infrastructure requirements, those mistakes are about to be compounded.

With the thousands of jobs lost from Fleetwood Port, ICI, and Norcross still not replaced, and without additional employment to support the huge increase in population (mainly due to migration in), this really is a plan for increased commuting, bringing gridlock to our already congested roads.

The council has turned a blind eye to the deficient road infrastructure for too long, and the sticking plaster Mains Lane bypass plans provide little solace to residents in the urban west of the borough.

And with the road system at breaking point, you would have thought this was an ideal opportunity for the local plan to set out a vision for the reinstatement of the rail line from Fleetwood to Poulton. Inexcusably it has failed to set out that vision.

A plan for housing is needed but it must be a strategic plan that properly considers residents and their employment, transport, and open space requirements.

It’s hoped that on May 2 there is an electoral backlash to this ineptitude, with residents across Wyre instead placing their faith in a forward thinking and strategically competent Labour dministration who can then address decades of Conservative mismanagement.

Coun Rob Fail &

Coun Emma Anderton

Leader and Deputy Leader of Wyre Group Of Labour

Councillors

Anti-semitism

Royston’s letter was a joy to read

I absolutely loved the recent letter from Royston Jones (Your Say, March 13). Really brilliant. He took such care working out all those figures, percentages etc.

It was a joy to read.

I’m 83 and have always been good at figures and send myself to sleep sometimes by setting myself impossible sums!

It restored a real sense of perspective to the anti-semitism issue.

Rose Morley

Anchorsholme

Brexit

Worried about threat to rights

We are trade union members from the North West worried about the threat Brexit poses to workers’ rights built up over the last 40 years.

EU laws safeguard our existing rights, and they are developing new legislation to give protections to people working in the gig economy and on zero hours contracts.

Brexit Britain would miss out on new rules forcing employers to give reasonable notice of shifts, limiting probationary periods to six months, giving you the right to take on a second job, and to receive a reply to requests for more secure hours or conditions.

The Government have said they will give Parliament a vote on whether to adopt new European rules, but their track-record proves they cannot be trusted with key employment legislation.

Trade union members are part of a growing shift in the North West’s attitude towards Brexit. According to analysis by Best for Britain and HOPE not hate, between the referendum and November 2018, 9.3 per cent more voters in the North West would now vote to keep our EU membership.

Europe is changing for the better and it is time the public has an opportunity to decide if losing the rights we have fought for is a price they want to pay for Brexit.

Maurice Ffelan

Trade Union member from Blackburn

Carl Davies

Trade Union member from Blackpool South

Jeff Barnard

Trade Union member from West Lancashire

Tony Makin

Trade Union member from Blackburn

Stephen Phillips

Trade Union member from Fylde

Geoff Blow

Trade Union member from Rossendale and Darwen

Angela Singleton

Trade Union member from South Ribble

John Girdley

Trade Union member from South Ribble

Robert Wheatley

Trade Union member from Fylde

Andrew Lindley

Trade Union member from West Lancashire

Brexit

Chill out... Brexit’s only in your head!

“Reality” is constructed by our brains receiving millions of electrical impulses per second.

These impulses come from the sensory receptors on our bodies which are being bombarded by electrical waveform energy. To use an analogy, think of our brain as the computer and the electrical impulses as the wifi signal.

From this we can conclude that our reality is illusory, as is the reality of a computer game constructed by a processor that uses wifi signals to create a world. So let’s chill out about Brexit, hey?

Harry Francis

North Shore