Flytipping and anti-social behaviour is a scourge on modern Britain - Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Brian Johnston, Rigton Drive, Burmantofts, Leeds.
Fly-tipping is among the anti-social behaviour blighting the streets of Britain, says one reader.Fly-tipping is among the anti-social behaviour blighting the streets of Britain, says one reader.
Fly-tipping is among the anti-social behaviour blighting the streets of Britain, says one reader.

One of the most depressing aspects of living in modern Britain, is what we all see on our streets, day in, day out. It is the ever increasing despondency of anti-social behaviour in all its forms.

To live in any British city is to experience incivility, vandalism, and flytipping on a grand scale.

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Nothing is more important in life than the way we treat each other.

‘Please’ and ‘thank you’ are never heard at the shopping counter, with folk too busy fiddling with their mobile phone obsession.

On the street, one is confronted with desperate aggressive begging and at the same time, its open season for shoplifting with impunity.

The sight of folk eating on the hoof was once regarded as disgusting but the fast food generation cares not.

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And now, the latest transgression – in a word cyclists who are unable to use a bicycle, unless it is flying along the pavement, harassing pedestrians and, when challenged, one receives a torrent of abuse.

Today, there is an unwillingness in society to display any disapproval, or cast judgment on anything or anybody, silenced by political correctness.

There is no longer that prescriptive norm that once shaped our behaviour, caused by the lack of moral leadership – and lies the problem today – the abdication of any moral authority.

Shameful wage bribe

From: Cecil Crinnion, Sycamore Close, Slingsby, York.

Increasing the minimum wage for teenager to match it to what is paid to adults is yet another crackpot socialist economic idea and a shameful attempt to bribe 16-year-olds to support Labour. This at a time when security guards and catering staff at Sellafield have refused an offer of £8.21 an hour. I assume most of the strikers are over 16 and would be delighted with an offer of £10 an hour. However all pay rises have to be paid for by someone, usually the public. Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell’s determination to align Britain’s economy with that of Venezuela is breathtaking.

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In line with socialist policies, the misery in Venezuela is shared equally.

Leadership in short supply

From: Robert Holman, Farsley, Leeds.

Watching the news of the list of Ministers putting their names forward for the next Prime Minister, I am struck that over the last three years watching PM’s Question Time not one has shown any Churchillian leadership qualities to solve the many urgent problems in crime, the NHS, pensions and schools. My question to other readers is, ‘Would you risk them to run your family jelly baby firm let alone we humans?’ I think not!

From: Mr R Urquhart, High Hunsley, Cottingham.

When being interviewed on the radio or television has anyone ever heard a politician answer a question with a straightforward reply that relates directly to the question itself?

Sound model for change

From: David Alexander, joint managing director, property management company Apropos by DJ Alexander Ltd.

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With landlords and letting agents in England and Wales about to lose an estimated £240m per year in administration fees when the Tenants Fees Bill comes into force on June 1, the sector could do worse than look to Scotland as an example of how to deal with these changes. Scotland is far ahead of the rest of the UK in improving the status and security of tenants, and it is the existing Scottish model which is now being replicated and implemented in these legislative changes.

The Tenants Fees Bill is aimed at clearing up ambiguous and vague administrative charges and, while some of these were legitimate, many agents used them as a source of income, sometimes accounting for 30 per cent of annual revenue.

The resultant storm of complaints from agents and landlords in the private sector claims that they are being financially squeezed fails to acknowledge or understand that these regulations were introduced in Scotland in 2012 without the world collapsing and without any obvious harm to the private rented sector (PRS).

Therefore, the property market across the rest of the UK could benefit by looking at the way the PRS works in Scotland where there has been a determined effort over the last few years to improve the relationship between landlord and tenant through improvements in the security of tenure, the length of leases, and reduce the confrontational element in the landlord and tenant relationship which the original 1988 Housing Act embedded.

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Scotland has also led the way in ending no-fault evictions, in abolishing short-term tenancy agreements of six months and introducing indefinite tenancies.

These changes reflect the reality of the changing provision of housing across the UK. Whilst property owning remains the largest sector at 63 per cent of the total, private renting is now the second biggest property sector (20 per cent) ahead of social housing (17 per cent).

But more important than changing the legislation is the need to change the mindset of so many landlords and agents who have often viewed the tenant as simply a cash cow.

These legislative changes should be regarded as an opportunity to create a better, fairer, and more equitable private rented sector which produces a mutually beneficial system for all concerned. June 1 is merely the start of change, and Scotland is continuing to lead the way and provided a sound model for the operation of the PRS in the future.