YP Letters: Like Grenfell, fracking puts profits first

FOLLOWING the terrible tragedy of Grenfell Tower, an angry public outcry has questioned cost-cutting that resulted in 79 deaths. They demand to know why the management company contracted by the Conservative-controlled Kensington and Chelsea fitted flammable rather than fire-resistant cladding in order to save a few thousand pounds. Despite frequent complaints from residents’ groups, corporate profit was put before the needs of ordinary people.

There is an unfortunate parallel here with the imposition of fracking in Ryedale. Despite massive popular protest to the Conservative-controlled county council, it has been decreed that corporate profits outweigh the many health dangers of fracking, let alone its threats to the environment and to agriculture and tourism. Like the poor people of Grenfell Tower, our interests come second when there’s money to be made.

From: Ian Conlan, Middlecave Road, Malton.

DO we have to wait for disaster before fracking is banned? Our pro-fracking MP Kevin Hollinrake said two days after the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy: “Safety regulations are higher than they have ever been.” Well, they are either insufficient or poorly monitored, or both.

Residents in the tower repeatedly said they feared a disaster before they were listened to. This is what we fear in Ryedale, a disaster to our health as the latest research shows substantial increases in child deaths in fracked areas in Pennsylvania, USA. It’s time fracking is stopped now before it is too late.

From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

There are approximately 800,000 empty properties in the UK (domestic and business), of which 1,400 are in Kensington and Chelsea.

The residents from the dreadful Grenfell Tower fire should not be put up in hotels nor moved many miles to other cities. Many of the empty flats and homes should be requisitioned by the Government as was done in the Second World War, and used temporarily by those who have lost everything.

From: Sheelagh Best, Beverley.

AT the weekend, I watched an interview with a grieving Grenfell Tower relative with sadness and then increasing anger.

What bungling incompetent housing department head thought of allocating a high-level single flat to an elderly, disabled, wheelchair-bound gentleman?

With one single staircase, serving many hundreds of people, no sprinklers, and oh yes, lifts. I always understood lifts must not be used in case of fire.

From: D Wood, Howden.

WHILE no one would deny that the Grenfell Tower fire was a major tragedy, there is no possibility of it being the fault of the Prime Minister (Tom Richmond, The Yorkshire Post, June 20).

Even as Home Secretary, councils and their housing were not in Theresa May’s remit. This is down to the responsible council and the contractors who carried out the renovation of this block, and is nothing what so ever to do with the Prime Minister.

From: Max Nottingham, St Faith’s Street, Lincoln.

OUTSIDE of wartime, I don’t suppose there have been many disasters to equal the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. The newspaper and TV pictures of the burning tower block spoke louder than a million words.

We must hope and pray that lessons will be learned.

Now let Jo rest in peace

From: GA Smith, Boston Spa.

JO Cox’s death a year ago was undoubtedly a tragedy. However, may I suggest that the much deserved award of the George Medal to Bernard Kenny for his brave attempt to save the MP, and the Great Get Together Weekend, should mark the end of articles on the subject?

Decent and caring people die every day – sometimes in appalling circumstances.

I hope they are all sleeping in peace and believe it is time that Jo Cox was allowed to do the same.

Airport extortion

From: Dave Bell, Hull.

RE Leeds Bradford Airport and daylight robbery. I recently attended the airport to collect two disabled passengers.

I arrived at 1.49pm and left at 4.13pm, the flight was late and I know I could have gone on to the hour free car park but that would have been difficult for my passengers. It cost £27 for two hours 24 minutes parking.

It is a disgrace.

Team memory

From: Sheila Seymour, Church Fenton, Tadcaster.

YOUR Picture Past inserts every Tuesday bring back memories and inform. On June 20, a selection of Yorkshire’s cricket team are pictured in 1957.

The player on the left is Vic Wilson, not Don. Vic Wilson became captain in 1960. Being a golden oldie brought up in a cricketing family in Hessay, I am familiar with the record of our county team. As a teenager in the 1960s, each season I had a half crown bet with my godmother’s husband (a Londoner) that Yorkshire would win the county championship. I won most times.

The axe falls

From: Mrs B Whit, Brecks Lane, Kirk Sandall, Doncaster.

FURTHER to the destruction of mature trees in Sheffield, the council here in Doncaster is suffering from the same happy-go-lucky axemen. Three trees from Brecks Lane have suffered the same fate. The trees were rowan trees that made a spectacular display in autumn.