Letters to the editor

Justin Tomlinson wrote that 2,000 of his 80,000 constituents signed a petition against an animal bedding plant powered by a biomass energy plant, which I pointed out was about 2.5 per cent and today, 5 November, Des Morgan writes that it not a creditable tool of public opinion and he is quite right.

We both of course neglected to take into account the fact that the petition was not only of local people but was also collected in the town centre, so the names on the petition are not all Mr Tomlinson's constituents and could be from anywhere. Although this does not make their opinions less important, it is possible that as low as one per cent of his constituents are opposed to this factory.

Given that he has just been made a business ambassador, perhaps he could explain why he is opposed to a factory on an industrial estate when only one per cent of his constituents are?

On the same page Mrs Townsend says she is angry at a letter supporting the factory and that she heard plenty of evidence against it, but in amongst some generalised concerns she gives only two facts. The first that two chimneys will be 30 metres (100 foot) which seems to me a modest height. The second being that there would be ‘90 lorries a day 24/7 split between Bruce Street bridges and Akers Way’.

If you break these figures down that’s 45 per day on each route, less than two per hour, hardly constantly. Sadly industrial estates need to be serviced by lorries.

Does she want the industrial estate closed down?

She further says that there has been no consultation with Hippofan, but this because the gun was well and truly jumped, and she started protesting before she knew the facts.

Steve Thompson Norman Road, Swindon

No clear picture

After reading the more detailed report of his ‘trolley load of rubbish’ saga, 31 October, I would like to apologise to Jeffrey Heath and insist that at no time did I doubt the facts of his actions, only the photograph. We are a selfish, uncaring society and without public spirited citizens like Mr Heath, our streets and countryside would be disgusting.

I would like to defend my errant observations by saying the printed photograph of the trolley of rubbish needs studying with a magnifying glass to have a chance of seeing (even with my perfect eyesight) the water snail, and the trolley is hardly festooned (hanging in ribbons, chains or loops) between two points (the Oxford Dictionary definition) with pond weed.

Perhaps the reporter can be blamed for saying the rubbish was taken from a river, not tributary, where it was probably not immersed.

Having spent my early life, before getting married, living by and fishing and swimming in a river, I am aware of how clean and shiny things look after being taken from a river.

Mr L Carter Dart Avenue, Swindon

Keep laughing

I have kept my powder dry until I read the informative, articulate and amusing reply to L Carter from Jeffrey Heath. A highly intelligent well educated member of what is commonly addressed to as the old school.

‘Do not insult our intelligence if only to encourage letters similar to the one of Bill Williams’, L Carter pronounced. May I inform L Carter, as the dark winter nights approach a sense of humour is paramount to human existence. I have put in many serious letters to the Adver regarding politicians and contributors to the letters pages over a number of years.

However, any I have written with attempted humour, let the Editor and readers be the judge of that, regarding local politicians or otherwise, have been in an entirely light hearted manner with no insult intended. I sincerely hope they have laughed at themselves when mentioned. If you cannot laugh at yourself all is lost.

Perhaps L Carter may reply. I suspect he or she was writing in a similar vein.

I walked up to my local on Halloween. Twelve people put money in my pocket on the way.The problem being I wasn't wearing a mask.

Bill Williams Merlin Way, Swindon

Energy extortion

If there is ‘real’ competition in the UK energy market how is that none of the Big 6 that control between 96 and 99 per cent of household electricity supplies always raise their prices in line with each other and always at the same time?

Indeed if there is competition in the market, why doesn’t one of them take a leaf out of Jack Cohen’s book (founder of Tesco) with his famous motto, “stack em high and sell em cheap”?

In this respect if one of the Big 6 broke ranks and put their prices up by say six per cent or less, everyone would move to that energy supplier without hesitation.

Therefore as not one of them has done this, it shows to me that they are all in cahoots with each other and where they do not really want real competition at all, just our money.

Unfortunately these rises are nowhere near the wage rises in personal annual income that according to the ONS recent figures is a measly 0.7 per cent, or in other words, average energy increases are 13-times that of wage rises. Therefore in my humble opinion these rises have now literally become extortion and where I thought that we had laws that prevented such criminal acts in this country. I must be wrong.

Dr David Hill Chief Executive World Innovation Foundation P O Box A60 Huddersfield

Palace for poor

Is it not time that Mr & Mrs Windsor downsized from Buck Palace and thus set an example to us commoners?

After all Buck Palace has just under huge 800 rooms, all of which are stuffed to the gold-laced curtains with artworks which really ought to be displayed permanently in the public domain: galleries and museums, not hidden away or charging us rip-off prices to view them. A few years ago the palace (bear in mind she has numerous other properties) was rated at £1 billion! And that’s without the contents of each of the 800 rooms!

The 800 rooms could be opened up for all the poor souls unable to ‘downsize’ and who have to vacate the city. Mrs Windsor too, remember, is on public benefits; this year she was allocated a mere £5 million to get by on.

On top of all this we have a massive ever rising annual security bill of £38 million. Why doesn’t her son, Charles, help her out instead of us? He makes a clear profit of £20 million every year.

Steve Nibbs Milton Road Swindon

Banks run us

The privatisation of Royal Mail by the Coalition proves once and for all it is the banks that run the country.

The management arms of the banks advising the government received 13 million shares, as the shares were 585p (25 October) against a float price of 330p, their profit from 13 million shares was £29 million. (I smell something fishy). Add £17 million for their advice and I’d call that a bankers field day!

Still, what can one expect from a couple of novices like Cameron and Osborne. They say we have paid off one third of the structural deficit left by Labour, something they were going to pay off by 2014, but now it seems £120 billion is still outstanding, which means they have paid less than a quarter of the £156 billion debt.

Meanwhile, they will have more than doubled the National Debt from £700 billion in 2010 to an expected £1.5 trillion in 2015. Think of the interest we will be paying on that.

Now Cameron is saying Labour doubled the debt during the time in office (wrong). Let’s suppose he is right, it means Labour would have increased the debt by £350 billion in 13 years, whereas the Coalition will increase it by an expected £800 billion in 5 years.

When Gordon Brown was Chancellor, he paid off a large tranche of Tory debt; saving the exchequer £7 billion a year in interest and in 2006 he finished paying off the American debt from World War 2.

M J Warner Groundwell Road, Swindon

From one extreme

In his letter of 2 November, ‘Backing for protection’, C J Meek says he supports the Muslim man who spoke out against extremism. Is this the same Muslim man that I read about recently who has been convicted for football violence and who recently was convicted of threatening behaviour in Bradford, and who also wants to become the first Muslim to become a member of the EDL?

In the article I read of this young man, he said he wants to join the EDL to fight Muslim extremism. So, he’s joining one extreme organisation to fight another extreme organisation.

Not what I would call a productive move.

Martin Webb Swindon Road, Swindon

Wroughton fight

I refer to a recent article by Emma Lidiard urging Swindon Borough Council to sort out its Local Plan and the reply by a spokesperson (attributed but believed to be Coun Dale Heenan) indicating the main aim of some borough councillors appears to be to offload or transfer the responsibility for making unpopular decisions onto parish councils.

Readers please note the following salient information: 1. The Public Examination into the Local Plan was due to take place in November 2013, not ‘the start of 2014’.

2. The Inspector, having concerns about the soundness of Swindon Councils proposals and mooting the options of suspending the examination or even withdrawal of the plan, has nevertheless confirmed that, “It will be up to the council to determine how it wishes to proceed”.

3. Wroughton Parish Council, along with other respondents, has certainly played its proper ‘part in the planning process’ and is strongly urging both the inspector and Swindon Borough Council to hold the examination without further delay so that argument about the soundness of the plan can indeed be held in public.

4. The policy vacuum left by any failure of Swindon Borough Council to continue with its plan to adoption would be detrimental to all of the residents of the borough and certainly could not be filled by neighbourhood plans, which would take at least two years to deliver.

5. Those currently proposing and supporting development on Greenfield sites, while sites with planning permission for 3,800 homes on Wichelstowe go begging, may be hoping the absence of a local plan will mean they can foist more unwanted and unsustainable development on the people of Swindon.

In the case of Wroughton, they are sadly mistaken.

John Newman Wroughton Parish Councillor Priors Hill, Wroughton

Fanning flames

Nice of the firemen to let the public know they are going on strike otherwise nobody would have noticed but then to claim they can’t be expected to attend fires at 60, I doubt if many have ever seen a major fire. They make it sound like a daily occurrence.

When did we last have a major fire in Swindon? In this day and age they are few and far between.

Most of their work is taken up by more mundane work such as attending motorway smashes or members of the public getting into difficulties most of which is no more demanding or physical than many other trades, such as building workers, miners, steelworkers and many other trades.

It’s all very nice retiring at 55 but someone's got to pay for it. Most can only dream of it. Even with a major fire, I would doubt if the fire crew are all pushing 60. Bill Collins Coronation Road, Wroughton