August 14: Pressing need for new stations in Leeds

I WAS delighted to read of major investment in Leeds and therefore pleasing that £162m being made available for expansion at Thorpe Park. I totally agree with the quote from Sir Michael Bear, head of the Regional Investment Organisation, that the UK is ‘an attractive place to invest in large scale infrastructure projects’. Thorpe Park is an ideal location (The Yorkshire Post, August 10).

I was disappointed, however, that although quite a lot is made of a new ‘dual carriageway sweeping around the north-east of the city’ no mention is made of including a station as an integral part of the development which is adjacent to the Leeds-York line. A station would clearly reduce the need for car journeys and open up employment possibilities to those who don’t have private transport.

Stations are about equal opportunities in transport. I should not be surprised. This is a city that refuses to evaluate a central area underground railway and can’t see the need for a station at the White Rose Centre– yet one could remove up to half a million car journeys a year.

By the way who is in charge of local transport now, is it Coun Lewis, Coun Blake or Coun Wakefield? Both are East Leeds councillors – I should have thought that electrification of the line to Garforth and a new station at Thorpe Park would be high priorities for their electors. And perhaps one of you could tell me after years of asking in this paper why the White Rose doesn’t deserve a station when major competitors like Meadowhall 
and the Metro Centre, Gateshead, do?

Why does Leeds settle for a transport network that is inferior to that of many similar sized cities in the developing world?

From: T Marston, Lincoln.

THE Yorkshire Post recently posed this question: “Does the Government remain committed to strengthening the economy in the North of England?”

How encouraging to see you take the lead in calling to task rail Ministers so they review their decision not to develop an electrified system in industrial Yorkshire.

I wish you had not taken up as much space prior to the election to persuade me to elect a party to government that does not keep its promises.

Guilt by association is just as guilty.

Time we had conversation

From: John Boocock, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

CONCERNS expressed by several council leaders in Yorkshire suggest that a headlong rush into anything like a so called “combined authority” might be at best premature. Surely the first thing to do is to involve all members of society in a proper discussion about what is best for our communities. Otherwise we will end up with things like the dog’s breakfast being proposed in South Yorkshire which proposes to consign places such as Barnsley and Rotherham to a future combined with large areas of Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire.

Scotland, with its relatively small population, has far more say in its own affairs so why not the well-defined county of Yorkshire with its larger population and superior economic prowess? This requires a “Yorkshire Conversation” involving not just self-selecting, self preserving council leaders but all of our communities: from business right through to our young people.

Although it is not surprising that the original idea is a mish-mash of top down thinking with only cost cutting in mind, one would rather hope that the powers that be would at least try to promote something that was appropriate and first rate. Instead we are going to be left with something as messy and inconsistent as the current local Government system overseen by a unrepresentative mayor of all things.

Keep up food production

From: Nigel Donkin, Garth Avenue, North Duffield.

THE big picture the public do not understand is we do not produce enough food to feed ourselves in the UK. If we allow production to drop further, the British public need to understand they will be at the mercy of commodity speculators who will charge us as much as they can (The Yorkshire Post, August 12).

The world is run by people, who want the public to have cheap food so they will have enough money to buy iPhones and other must-haves with massive profits for suppliers and the stock holders.

As an old saying goes, wake up or pay up!

Worries over Credit change

From: Mrs Norma McNichol, Lynwood Drive, Carlton.

IT was good to read (The Yorkshire Post, August 10) that Sheffield is setting up an alternative to loan sharks and money lenders, who. exploit the vulnerable.

However, they could soon be rubbing their hands in glee if what my son tells me is correct. He is worrying about the change to Universal Credit as he understands it is paid a month in arrears plus one week. This means that the person waiting for their payment has to live for five weeks with no income.

If this is true, which I can hardly believe, more folk are going to be turning to the money lenders.

It is excellent news that Sheffield folk have an alternative, but what about everyone else?