YP Letters: Will new shopping centre The Springs become a white elephant?

From: Geoffrey North, Windsor Mount, Leeds.
What do you think of the new Springs Retail Park?What do you think of the new Springs Retail Park?
What do you think of the new Springs Retail Park?

MY wife and I visited the newly opened Springs Retail Park at Thorpe Park, and we were very disappointed. Cannot our architects come up with something more graceful and appealing than crude square boxes stuck side by side?

The inside of the stores are fine but you could be in any national store such as M&S, Boots and Next anywhere in the country and they are all the same. What particularly disappoints is that the box structures create a wind tunnel effect such that you were nearly blown over when moving from store to store.

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It was particularly windy, but this is an elevated wide open site, particularly to the North. There is no ambience or beauty to the site with very little protection from the weather, it is a modern version of the monstrosities produced in the 1960s.

I hope the location is successful but I have a feeling it will become a white elephant. A shopping experience in the Victoria Quarter in Leeds or in the centre of York is far more attractive and preferable.

From: Shaun Kavanagh, Leeds.

WHY is it officials at Leeds City Council are the only people in Leeds who fail to understand that the intended A61, Leeds to Harrogate development, will create chaos? Residents have already voiced their objections but will LCC listen? Their likely approach will be “why should we listen when we never do”?

LCC state that its aim is to make travelling around the city as “fast and efficient” as possible and that public engagement is “central” to that work. Absolute tosh, LCC is not listening but is clearly intent on making the lives of residents a misery.

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

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NOT surprisingly, there is widespread opposition to Leeds City Council’s bus-based wheeze, set to go scything through Alwoodley (The Yorkshire Post, October 11). Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that LS17 is a Tory heartland.

Leeds has three Tory and five Labour MPs. There continues to be a deafening silence from them, and their predecessors, over the historic, wretched state of the city’s public transport and consequent road chaos. When might we see ambition and determination at Westminster to ensure that this major European city gets the public transport it desperately needs and deserves?

From: Anil Suri, Leeds.

I WOULD like to strongly give my views on the plans for a bus lane for Harrogate Road/Alwoodley.

Traffic is already very congested during peak times and introduction of a single car lane will be a complete chaos. It will create more problems during winter. Not everyone travels on buses as not everyone works in the city centre. What about people who have to travel on the motorway or outskirts of Leeds?

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Buses are not convenient for everyone. The plans are not practical and are going to cause more problems for the daily travel to and from work. Please do not waste public money on such schemes. Listen to the people affected. It is already stressful to get to work through the ever increasing traffic.

Hunt for help nearer home

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

I AM 86 and had a bad fall at home, injuring my hand and scrubbing the skin off my forehead. I dialled 111 and, after some time listening to a recorded message about the internet, I eventually got to speak to a real person.

My wife took over the conversation. She suggested the 8 to 8 Centre at Driffield, but the operator suggested Beverley Community Hospital. My wife explained that we had no means of getting there but could get a taxi to the Alfred Bean Hospital in Driffield. The operator then said she would send an ambulance crew to check me.

They turned up having come to Driffield from Beverley. The crew were first class and, after a few phone calls, took me to Beverley Community Hospital where my wedding ring was cut off and I was X-rayed.

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My head wound was dressed by a kind male nurse and, since no bones were broken, I was allowed to leave. We then had to get a taxi from Beverley to get home at a cost of just over £20.

All the treatment could have been provided at Driffield and there would have been a saving both to myself and the NHS.

Plans show folly of HS2

From: R Townend, Wakefield.

THE latest revelations regarding the cost and impact of Leeds Station proposals for HS2 further demonstrate the folly of the existing scheme.

A less expensive, simplified version could however be of benefit in providing an additional fast rail route to both London and Birmingham, thus improving ‘network resilience’ and adding much-needed extra capacity.

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This can be achieved by closely following the original under-utilised Midland Railway route north of Killamarsh, approaching Leeds via Rotherham Cudworth and Normanton.

Leeds Station already needs greater capacity, this can be resolved and HS2 accommodated within the existing station area by turning the present car park into additional platforms, with a multi-storey car park above.

Cyclists head 
further north

From: Mr PG Willetts, Darlington Road, Stockton-on-Tees.

WITH regard to the letter you published from Edward Grainger (The Yorkshire Post, October 15) who resides in Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, he stated that the Tour de Yorkshire has never been north of Whitby! He should surely be aware that the ride started in Middlesbrough in 2016 – and Redcar will be a host destination in 2020.