YP Letters: World-beating technology fuelling UK

From: Andrew Koss, Chief Executive, Drax Power Ltd, Selby, North Yorkshire.
Sunset over Drax power station.Sunset over Drax power station.
Sunset over Drax power station.

From: Andrew Koss, Chief Executive, Drax Power Ltd, Selby, North Yorkshire.

THE idea Yorkshire is “steadily being eliminated as a source of English power supply” that could undermine the development of the Northern Powerhouse (Bernard Ingham, The Yorkshire Post, February, 3) skates over some important facts.

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Drax continues to generate eight per cent of the power the country uses every day. The difference now is that our power station has made Britain home to the most advanced biomass technology in the world.

Half of Drax has so far switched from coal to using high density pellets made from compressed wood to produce renewable electricity. This meets the needs of three million homes, making Drax the single biggest renewable generator in Europe. It is low carbon, reliable renewable electricity made possible by the technical know-how and achievements of our engineers here in the UK.

We have been working with this world-beating technology for more than a decade, recognising that, as the Government has made clear more recently, the country needs to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

High density compressed wood pellets are the only non-fossil fuel that can provide a major contribution to plugging the electricity gap as the country moves away from reliance on coal. And because this technology can upgrade existing power plants it can be done in a quick and affordable way.

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The £650m Drax has invested to date has protected and created jobs, at the power station and in the supply chain. Four ports in the North have already invested £290m in delivery of compressed wood pellets to Drax by developing import infrastructure which also leads the world.

Drax will continue to power the country through using biomass technology to provide electricity when we need it. Far from being “in decline”, Yorkshire is showing the UK how we can generate low carbon, reliable renewable electricity with world-beating innovation.

Working for all the people

From: Stewart Arnold, Deputy Leader, Yorkshire First, Stratton Park, Swanland.

YOUR editorial on people power and devolution (The Yorkshire Post, February 4) rightly points out the importance of the support of Yorkshire people in making any devolution settlement work in the region.

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This is, after all, something Yorkshire First and others have been campaigning for from the outset. Nevertheless, The Yorkshire Post’s insistence on a reference to ‘taxpayers’ undersells the wider engagement possible in this process.

Scotland showed the way last year with its 85 per cent turnout in a referendum where citizens felt greatly empowered by the vote and the role they had in making such a huge decision.

That same empowerment should be shared by the people of Yorkshire, whether they be taxpayers, students, the retired, full time carers or others. This is a hugely significant decision, one that will define the sort of Yorkshire we want to live in over the next 10-20 years. So yes, it’s right to include the public in that debate, but also to widen the engagement as far as possible.

Cut pension age for all

From: Janet Hitchenor, Hill Road, Ashover, Chesterfield.

WHY pay tax credits early to a few on low incomes so they can afford to stay at home and look after their grandchildren, as suggested by Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves?

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Just reduce the pension age for all. Women born in the 1950s are losing huge amounts of money from their state pension due to the changes pushed through by the Government and would love to retire early.

Pension credits will be a thing of the past when the new state pension comes into effect because of the increased amount.

Motorway’s not so smart

From: David Waters, Dewsbury.

SITTING in a five-mile queue of stationary traffic on the M62, I recalled an article in your paper a few days ago regarding the “smart motorway” recently opened.

The article spoke of a system that would inform drivers of hold ups and regulate the maximum driving speeds by way of maximum speed indicators on the overhead gantries.

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This came to mind during my 40-minute wait to get moving whilst sitting beneath the gantry proudly showing a 40mph speed limit.

Still, I should not be surprised, as the same stretch of motorway (heading west from Tingley) often shows a 60mph speed limit when there is so little traffic on the road that the outside lane is totally clear of traffic.

Not so smart after all Eh?

Council cull well overdue

From: Edward Grainger, Botany Way, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.

THE news that Harrogate Borough Council at the next election could be down from 54 councillors to 40 following a review of wards by the Local Government Boundary Commission under Professor Colin Mellors will hopefully set in motion a trend to reduce local councillor numbers across England and Wales.

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With so many councils 
having an elected mayor or about to be put in line for one, do we need so many ‘pointless councillors’ (The Yorkshire Post, January 29).

With so many councillors operating with the benefit of modern technology to keep abreast of all developments in individual wards and areas, the time for a ‘cull’ in the numbers is well overdue.