YP Letters: Tale of two towns based on inequality

From: Peter Croft, Whitby.
Whitby is perceived to be the poor relation when compared to Scarborough.Whitby is perceived to be the poor relation when compared to Scarborough.
Whitby is perceived to be the poor relation when compared to Scarborough.

YOUR editorial regarding the spat between Whitby and Scarborough merely scratched the surface of an ongoing situation which has taken place since local government reorganisation in the 1970s.

Whitby people are fiercely proud of their town and county, so the general consensus was they wanted to stay in Yorkshire, which meant they had to be part of Scarborough Borough Council.

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Unfortunately, over the years, Whitby has observed the inequality the borough council based in Scarborough has imposed on areas outside of Scarborough.

Whitby council tax payers have a precept, which funds the Pannett Park museum and some small events in Whitby.

Scarborough, a much larger town, does not have a council precept yet the council funds the Rotunda Museum, Stephen Joseph Theatre and the loss-making open-air theatre.

This funding comes from council tax payers in the borough rather than just Scarborough council tax payers.

HS2 won’t aid air passengers

From: F Manby, Gargrave.

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HS2 will cost more than expected. Exactly who will it benefit? I can already reach Heathrow terminals from Wakefield using the excellent Heathrow Express via King’s Cross and Paddington in a little over three hours (Tom Richmond, The Yorkshire Post, February 18).

My best time when everything linked seamlessly was three hours – Heathrow Terminal 5 to Wakefield Westgate in December when an advance ticket cost just £57. Leeds/Wakefield to King’s Cross is just over two hours, etc. Train is brilliant. Viz, Wakefield to Farnborough TAG terminal in four hours.

I never use Leeds Bradford Airport or Manchester for these internal links. Too slow (check in, undressing for security, paying daft money to park, traffic jams on the M62 to Manchester, delays taking off, etc etc).

The HS2 money should be spent on more capacity. Anyone joining the Leeds-King’s Cross train without a reservation takes pot luck in getting an unreserved seat. Even a reservation can back-fire when the system scrambles as it did last week.

Plastic bottles threaten seas

From: Aled Jones, Bridlington.

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DO we really want more waste plastic in the sea than fish? If the answer is no, it’s vital the Government and other authorities begin to take action on the scourge of plastic pollution.

The seas around Britain are at their choking point, with millions of tons of plastic entering them every year. That’s a lot of harm being done to the fragile marine environment.

According to a recent Greenpeace survey, for every mile of UK beach inspected there are over 150 plastic bottles found scandalously washed up.

It is surely, therefore, high time that society ceases to view plastic as something cheap and worthless in order that we are incentivised to treat it responsibly and recycle it.

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To this end, Greenpeace (inspired by the 5p carrier bag levy) is proposing a bottle deposit return scheme which could see the end of plastic bottles littering our beautiful seas.

D-Day plea to find veterans

From: Nichola Rowlands, Remembrance Travel, London.

I AM Head of Travel for the travel arm of the Royal British Legion, Remembrance Travel, and I’m currently on a mission to find every single surviving D-Day veteran. The Treasury is enabling a series of free-of-charge tours for D-Day veterans to return to Normandy and pay their respects to their fallen comrades. The tours are being funded by the Treasury from Libor fines, and will enable a D-Day veteran to return with a family member and carer on a six-night tour.

The 2017 tours will take place in March, April, May and September and will give Normandy veterans – now mostly in their 90s – the chance to revisit the Normandy beaches, cemeteries and memorials. The tours will be accompanied by a medic and a guide from the Royal British Legion. The tours will depart from London and will include Eurotunnel from Dover to Calais, accommodation, visits to Pegasus Bridge, Juno, Sword, Gold beaches, Arromanches, and war memorials, plus visits to personally specified cemeteries.

Sadly, there is no database of D-Day veterans so we’re calling on the goodwill of the media and general public to spread the word. So, if you do know a D-Day veteran, please do let them know about our free tours.

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Normandy veterans wishing to benefit from this tour need to apply to our tour operator, Arena Travel, on 01473 660800, or visit www.arenatravel.com/journeysofremembrance.

Derby daze

From: John Pickering, Leeds.

IT was ironic to read Eddie Peart’s letter (The Yorkshire Post, February 20) about London papers being unable to agree whether the weather at Headingley was sunny or grey. Your writer in that day’s Sports Monday was unable to agree whether next Saturday’s Yorkshire derby between Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United was to be held at Hillsborough (picture caption) or Elland Road (main article).

Greens for go

From: David Treacher, Hull.

IN Britain, there seems to be shortage of vegetables. One method is to grow our own as we used to do, such as lettuces tomatoes and cucumbers in flowerpots indoors if we didn’t have a garden. This is all fresh produce, fresh to the dinner table, cheap and you use them 
as you want.