YP Letters: Sacrifice green belt following Grenfell Tower tragedy

From: G Melvyn Woodhead, Sandal, Wakefield.
Theresa May, meeting emergency workers at the scene of the Grenfell Tower inferno.Theresa May, meeting emergency workers at the scene of the Grenfell Tower inferno.
Theresa May, meeting emergency workers at the scene of the Grenfell Tower inferno.

SURELY the tragic event of the fire at Grenfell Tower in London comes as no surprise? These high rise tower blocks erected in the 1960s and 1970s were built to partly solve the housing problem, providing multiple occupation with escapes confined to staircase and lifts, both of which are useless in the event of fire and smoke, each shaft acting as an accelerant, with no other escape route.

At boarding school, our third floor dormitory had a rope issued to us and in some cases an external steel ladder strapped to external walls. Thank God we didn’t have a fire.

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These tower blocks should have long since been demolished and never rebuilt. You can’t beat a home with front and back doors at ground level. With the expected explosion of population in the UK, vast areas of green belt should be released for housing development.

Landowners, builders and the population would be delighted – after all our island has vast unused areas of land which could be put to better use.

From: Patricia Russell, Oaklands Drive, Willerby.

I AM appalled that, once again, our Prime Minister has received the flak and Jeremy Corbyn the accolades regarding their visits to the London fire tragedy.

It is clear to any right-minded person that she was on a fact-finding mission to see what, if anything, was required by the attending services. The rescued people were coming to terms with what had happened – losing loved ones, their homes and possessions and what they had themselves been through.

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Many would not have wished to be in the limelight of a prime ministerial visit. I take great exception to Michael Portillo stirring this up. I suggest that he sticks to his train journeys.

From: John Appleyard, Firthcliffe Parade, Liversedge.

I AM the chairman of my local Tenants and Residents Association and am appalled by the catastrophic fire at Grenfell Tower.

This is a national tragedy and shows that the law around fire safety in buildings is not fit for purpose. The Government has been warned time and time again of the fire risks in blocks of flats like this.

I have written to Alok Sharma, the Minister now responsible for our building regulations, to ask when he will publish the review of building regulations on fire safety.

From: Barry Foster, High Stakesby, Whitby.

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WHAT a country we are beginning to live in. A dreadful fire in London and the Press blaming almost everyone, particularly the Government and poor old Theresa May. It has nothing to do with her, or Jeremy Corbyn, or any other politician.

We will eventually find out the cause of the fire. Until then, we should all keep our mouths shut. The poor people affected have quite enough to cope with.

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

THE awful tower block fire demonstrates that cost cutting is taking priority over the safety of people.

Police cover has been cut to the bone and we rarely see officers in our town, yet crime soars and serious offences go undetected. Cutting costs is very often a false economy as the result often increases the cost to the country as a whole.

Bereft of credibility

From: DS Boyes, Leeds.

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DOES the new Conservative minority government have any credibility or legitimacy at all? I don’t think so. Every other in the 20th century failed miserably.

The repeated mantra of number of votes garnered is a meaningless statistic.

The tearing up of the manifesto by which votes were sought on June 8 was a betrayal of the electorate. The consequential delay in the Queen’s Speech is a travesty and insult to our head of state.

Talk of exactly what the DUP will want in exchange for support in Commons votes appalls me.

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It is time for the Conservatives to put the interests of this country before those of their beleaguered party.

From: Michael Dobson, Feversham Crescent, York.

FOLLOWING the biased reporting and exhortations to the young to register and vote, the BBC nearly achieved the election result it so obviously promoted.

The Corporation has long since lost its reputation for impartial political reporting.

Has not the time come for the licence fee to be scrapped and the BBC left to sink or swim as a subscription or commercial broadcaster? It already spends a considerable amount of airtime advertising programmes and internet services. If these became commercial adverts, 
I doubt anybody would notice.

From: Robert Holman, Marsden Court, Farsley.

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REGARDING views on the student vote, should they have a right to vote as non-payers of council taxes? Over 90 per cent of Leeds 6 properties are zero-rated full-time student houses.

From: Tony Armitage, Fulwith Road, Harrogate.

I HAVE just had the misfortune to listen to the start of the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2. In opening, he raised the question for debate “Is it time to forget Brexit?” With his audience numbers, this is nothing short of treason.

From: Ruthven Urquhart,High Hunsley, Cottingham.

NOW that Michael Gove MP has been surprisingly “resurrected” as Environment Secretary, is there any chance of him attending a crash course in agriculture, as I am told he has little or no experience of our vital farming industry?

From: Edward Grainger, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.

JUST as the ever supportive Denis chose the right time to say to Margaret Thatcher “it’s time to go dear”, the ever faithful and supportive Philip should perhaps heed those words and tell Theresa May the same.