Lincolnshire readers write about news in Stamford, Grantham, Spalding and Rutland
Readers have had plenty to say on what’s in the news.
Here we share some of the letters, emails and comments that have come in over the week, including this cartoon from John Elson which looks at this article here.
Don’t forget, you can always get in touch by emailing news@lincsonline.co.uk
By-election does cost money
I read your article (Journal 9 August 2024) with interest, about the dispute over calling a by-election for the Grantham Town Council, in Springfield ward. On the one hand, I can see the point of Councillor Shorrock, and the Labour Party. Democracy is important, and our representatives should be elected. On the other hand, I can see the point of Town Council chairperson Councillor Harrison. The town council is short of cash, and the by-election costs money that we haven't got.
However, both of their arguments are weaker, because they are both partly responsible for this problem. This is the first year of the new town council, and its first budget had to be set by the district council. The Conservatives had no interest in the town council. (After all, if they had stood, they would have lost.) So they tried to weaken the town council by proposing a budget that was too small, and proposed that the town council have the same budget as the old Charter Trustees. This made no sense, as all the Charter Trustees did was elect a mayor. The whole point of a town council is that it can do other things, such as organise events, comment on planning issues and, yes, hold by-elections, as necessary. This would cost more money. However, Coun Harrison and most of his Independent bloc, along with the Labour councillors, all blundered in behind the Conservatives, and voted for a budget that was too small. And now we are stuck with a problem of their making that all of us on the town council have to sort out.
John Morgan
Democratic Independent Town Councillor, St Vincent's ward
Harrowby Road, Grantham
Disappointed in closure of shop
Like many local ladies, I am more than disappointed to hear that BonMarché, the last dedicated ladies’ clothes shop on Grantham’s High Street, is closing down on Saturday, August 17. It will be sorely missed by all those who regularly walk through the town centre and love to shop there. I wish all the friendly shop assistants soon find new jobs and I hope BonMarché will be able to return to Grantham in the near future.
Even more worrying is the rumour that this prime shopping site is likely to be sold and converted into yet more flats: yet another nail in the coffin of what used to be a thriving shopping area. Fingers crossed that SKDC will see sense and not give planning permission for such a serious change of use. It will be a tragedy if our High Street becomes little more than a housing estate, which appears to be the current aim of the local council, which has recently given planning permission for a number of prime town centre properties to be converted into housing. Is this yet another plan to force people to shop at the currently non-existent shopping villages on the edge of town? I hope not!
Lynda North
Grantham
Remember - dogs die in hot cars
I was walking past the Grantham health clinic at 1.30pm on Monday, August 12, when the weather was very hot and humid. It was the hottest day of the year according to the BBC. I heard a dog barking frantically and realised it was locked in a car parked in the disabled bay there and there were NO car windows open. I can only imagine how hot and airless it must have been inside the car.
Fortunately the owner arrived and said it was fine as she was going to take the dog for a walk. I pointed out that dogs die very quickly in hot cars and a walk would be of no help if the poor animal had died. She didn’t think it was a problem, but the dog was certainly overjoyed to be released from what must have seemed like a very hot oven.
It might not be actually illegal to leave a dog unattended in a car, but all dog owners should be aware that under the Animal Welfare Act if this leads to the dog suffering, the owner can face an unlimited fine and up to 6 months in prison. I hope this person thinks twice before leaving her small dachshund in a hot and airless car again.
Name and address supplied
Low response to bins survey
An article in the Lincolnshire Free press on August 6 states disappointment about the low (2,000) response to the bags or bins waste survey.
I have just wasted 35 minutes trying to access the form and have been shunted all over the council’s website ending with a ‘please wait sign’ and 20 of those minutes were septn with a little blue circle going round and round. I did do my crossword puzzle during this time.
If others have had the same problem, there is no surprise at the low response. We are not all IT experts. All that is required is a box on the contact us page saying ‘Waste Survey’. Tickt that and up comes the form, fill in and click post - done.
Or is the complication intended to deter people, so the council can do as it wants to do due to apathy justified by the low response.
I vote to retain bags.
T E Carter
Spalding
What is being done about pub?
Why on earth is nothing being done about the dreadful state of Ye Olde White Horse Inn, an iconic Spalding building. Presumably the two ladies who drove their cars into the building were insured, so there should be minimum cost to the building’s owners. Can’t the council do anything to get them to fix it as quickly as possible.
When I came to Spalding 43 years ago, it was a very pleasant small town. It had plenty of shops, two department stores, two good hotels in the market place and a thriving market twice a week.
It has since then more than doubled in size, but there are now numerous empty shops, no department stores, only one hotel and a very limited market.
It has become a town of eyesores. The old Johnson Hospital and nurses home, the old sorting office, The Bull and Monkey, Ye Olde White Horse and many smaller other properties give the town a very poor impression to locals and visitors alike and have been like that for decades.
Surely there must be something our council can do to bring back the town to it’s former glory. Is compulsory purchase a way to get the property owners to either develop the sites or sell to someone who will.
Please no more hairdressers or gambling dens !!
I live in hope.
John Lister
Spalding
Thanks for hard work on memorial
Several weeks ago I contacted Coun Henry Bingham to ask him if he could have a look at the Second World War memorial in Ayscoughfee Gardens, Spalding.
I was concerned that the memorial was covered in bird mess and the lettering on the memorial plinth had been weathered.
The councillor told me that the council was doing a piece of work on the Lutyens memorial and he would ask his officers to take a look at the Second World War memorial.
On August 7 I was informed that both memorials had been completed. Could I please thank the councillor and the officers for the work they have done. They will look great ready for VJ Day.
Rodney Grocock Public Relations Officer Spalding Branch of the Royal Naval Association
Think outside the caddy box
I have been advised that our Government will require all waste food to be collected from waste food caddies. Now to my mind, a caddy is a receptacle for keeping valuables, a tea caddy, a golf caddy, even a Volkswagen Golf Caddy. So having got out of bed this morning, I decided to investigate what would happen to the waste food in my waste food caddy. But firstly, let’s investigate what happens when I eat my food!
I have a super dooper takeaway on my plate which I eat. I produce about 250g of poo every day and it gets flushed into my toilet with 20 litres of fresh water provided by the water company that looks after my poo.
So, 75 million humans in Britain producing 250g of poo every day. How much? Easy to work out! 18,750 tonnes per day. Enough to fill seven olympic swimming pools. Every day. Pity the water companies dealing with this!
So, having sat down on my New Buras porcelain toilet (I live in an old house – look it up?), I had my poo and thought about all the food waste going into my newly delivered waste food caddy.
I don’t peel my potatoes or carrots, so no waste there; My takeaway, ok, enjoyed it all. The leftovers from my wife’s homemade cottage pie (minced beef, carrots and onions topped with cheesy mashed potatoes) goes into the fridge for lunch with lettuce and cucumber the next day. My basket of yellow stickered supermarket produce, don’t want them!
So do I need a waste food caddy? Not at all. So to recap: What I eat goes to a sewage farm, is filtered, processed in a digester and the final slurry returned to the land to fertilise the next crops which I can then buy in the supermarket.
Simple solution. I have got a food processor. Put food in, it whizzes around to make a soup. Put the soup into my toilet, flush away. Job done! Ideal for humans living on the top floor of a 10 storey block of flats who would have to cart a caddy to the ground floor.
As a final thought; do we want another 35million plastic boxes in the UK? Supermarkets already have caddy liners on the shelves. Do we really want another 35million plastic bags every week to be sorted from our food waste? And what unlucky human will be provided with gainful employment removing the caddy bag from the fermenting food waste?
On the other hand, so many of the humans in this country seem to have become so lazy that they won’t even be bothered to use a caddy! Just put their food waste into the plastic swing bin liner, put the plastic swing bin liner into the black sack, put the plastic black sack into the plastic wheelie bin, and hey presto away to landfill or the new giant incinerators! And so the plastic (re)cycling starts again. I wonder who the government will appoint to inspect the rubbish bags for evidence of food waste being improperly disposed of?
Time for the boffins to think outside of the (caddy)box?
Paul Matten
Green Lane Spalding.
