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Time to use the ‘stick’

Has the penny finally dropped and have Swindon Borough Councillors realised that bad parking is a blight on our community, “Drivers warned of major clampdown on poor parking” (SA June 12 2018)?

The report confirmed residents have raised concerns with councillors on a regular basis and there is cross party consensus that this ongoing problem needs to be addressed.

It is proposed that drivers who double park or leave their cars over dropped kerbs could be hit with hefty fines. Ward members have also recognised there is a nuisance caused to residents by obstructions on pavements, especially to those with pushchairs, mobility scooters and impaired vision.

The Traffic Management Act gives councils the power to deal with problem parking. The mystery is, why haven’t they been enforcing these regulations and why has this persistent problem been allowed to escalate?

Certain people seem to believe the law applies to others but not to them. Insufficient enforcement of regulations results in a lack of deterrents and encourages persistent offenders to act with impunity. The majority of people will respond to “a carrot”; unfortunately there is a significant minority who require “a stick”.

I believe Swindon Borough Council should be supported on any proposal which helps to prevent anti-social behaviour and has the potential to improve our environment.

I look forward to the implementation of this proposal throughout the whole of the borough.

Mr K Kane, Wharf Road, Wroughton

We remain sceptical

Oh dear, it seems that our local MP Justin Tomlinson has been affected by the same bombast which affects our council leader as he asks the question: “Wouldn’t it be great if Swindon residents could reach Heathrow in under an hour?” (SA 8 June).

What he doesn’t say is whether under an hour means a five minute saving in journey time or even ten minutes – what I think we can all agree on is that travelling to Heathrow in less than an hour only has value if the delays normally associated with trains and airports are also eliminated. After all what is the value of arriving at Heathrow in under an hour if you then have to sit in a lounge for two hours before your flight is called?

As for Justin repeating the claim that a new Heathrow runway will somehow boost the UK economy by ‘up to’ £74 billion, I think we will all take that with a pinch of salt, after all these figures are produced by a team who are famous for getting their sums wrong – normally they underestimate costs and exaggerate revenues, so possibly Justin can appreciate a little scepticism may be justified.

Des Morgan, Caraway Drive, Swindon

Not so honourable

Re the Honours List (yawn yawn).

“Well, it came out of the blue I can tell you!” (No it didn’t, potential recipients are phoned several weeks beforehand).

“The Honour is not just for me, it’s for my wonderful team of volunteers too! But hey! IT’S ME THAT WILL BE GOING OFF TO BUCKINGHAM PALACE, MEETING THE QUEEN, AND ME WHO WILL BE KEEPING THE GONG!”

Jeff Adams, Bloomsbury, Swindon

Favouring the rich

ON June 9 in the Adver, Terry Reynolds responds to a letter I wrote by asking why I “failed to mention” a number of things I wasn’t writing about. Is it necessary to point out that it is customary not to mention things you are not writing about in letters?

So again, leaving aside the peripherals, let’s try to make the point clear again. He wrote to criticise the current leadership of the Labour Party for following policies they don’t support and always opposed.

The policies of deregulation pursued by Blair, neo-liberal policies which led to periods of growth fuelled by speculative bubbles, and which precipitated the crash, were supported by the Tories at the time and opposed by Corbyn and McDonnell. Moreover, those policies were followed internationally by other right wing Governments and the crash was international. So, Mr Reynolds’ criticism here makes no sense.

Mr Reyonolds does not “vote for Britain”. His letters consistently argue for policies which favour rich people over working people.

Peter Smith, Woodside Avenue, Swindon