Reader writes about council dropping tax plan for veterans - and other letters from Lincolnshire
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.
Don’t forget, you can always get in touch by emailing news@lincsonline.co.uk
Proposal should be welcomed
We learnt last week that a proposal is to be brought forward for a new fitness centre at the Co-op site on Burley Road. This should be welcomed, as a short-fall in such capacity has undoubtedly arisen following the closure of the Catmose Centre at the end of May.
This positive news should also be seen in the context of Catmose Academy Trust's indication to the Oakham Fitness Co-operative, that they will seek to re-open the sports centre to the public, utilising the equipment owned by Rutland County Council.
The combination of a new fitness centre and some continued public access to the Catmose training facilities would represent a good long-term outcome to what has been a difficult issue for many Oakham residents.
Ramsay Ross
Leader of the Labour Group, Rutland County Council
Get in touch if you helped out
I would like to make contact to thank the kind (and strong) lady who helped me up off the road when I fell while crossing the busy West Street opposite Waitrose last week. A wheel of the walking ‘wheelie’ I was using became jammed by a drain cover on the rough road surface and tipped me over.
Name and address supplied
Editor’s note: Email: news@lincsonline.co.uk to be put in touch
It is an insult to veterans
In response to SKDC councillor Ben Green’s letter of July 5.
South Kesteven has one of the highest numbers of veterans living locally anywhere in this country.
During the last year district councillor Ben Green and the armed forces champion councillor Richard Dixon Warren have both raised the ideas of a reduced council tax for struggling in work veterans who live in small band A properties, the lowest council tax band.
It was thought this reduction would be no more than 5% to 10% max.
My sincere personal thanks to both these councillors and others involved in the work and support of this ideas.
Here was a real opportunity for SKDC to show real commitment to local veterans and to properly honour the armed forces covenant by a meaningful gesture, but instead, what do all local veterans read about.
Right from the off and during any preliminary discussions obstacles were continually put in the way of the ideas by the Labour, Lib Democrat, and Independent councillors, who together voted for no more work on the ideas.
Another kick in the teeth came during Armed Forces Week itself of all weeks when it was announced by the leader Coun Ashley Baxter that it was being scrapped, claiming they could not make it work and that it was discriminatory to other veterans despite over 70% of residents supporting such a scheme.
To add further insult, a senior council officer was brought out to tell councillors and the public that any proposed reduction in council tax for veterans would need at least six or seven additional officers to administer such a scheme.
Really, would that amount of staff be needed in a privately run business to administer it? No I thought not.
I have informed the chairman of the Lincolnshire Royal British legion of this awful betrayal, and that the SKDC leader Coun Ashley Baxter is now on record as referring to all local veterans during council discussions as "living like brigadiers"?
Gene Plews
Witham on the Hill
Thank you for your votes
I would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who voted for me in the General Election. Your support was hugely appreciated.
Charmaine Morgan
Former Parliamentary Candidate Grantham and Bourne Constituency (Lincolnshire Independent)
would like to thank all of those who voted for me as your Green Party candidate in the General Election, and to those who attended the hustings in St Wulfram's Church. The Green Party had its biggest ever General Election success, with candidates standing in almost every seat, winning the 4 constituencies we targeted and coming second in 40 other constituencies. I won my deposit back and was fourth.
I have to comment again on the unfairness of the voting system. If we had proportional representation in our country, Greens should have had 10 times the number of seats in Parliament (according to data from the Electoral Reform Society). Nevertheless, we are making small gains, and we will continue to press at every opportunity to influence our governments in making changes that reflect the need to adapt to climate change, to protect nature and to make our society fairer to all.
We still have our Greens on your council and they can be contacted via their SKDC council email addresses.
Anne Gayfer
Parliamentary Candidate Grantham and Bourne Constituency (Green Party)
Great to see pedestrian crossing
Great to see the pedestrian crossing on Barrowby Road (first of two) that Councillor Mark Whittington spent so much time promising during the last elections, finally in place. What’s not great to see is quite what we got for our £380,000 of council taxpayer’s money!
And before Councillor Whittington tries to deny the cost, LCC seemed quite proud to announce recently that ten new crossings would be put in place across the county at a cost of £3.8 million. Well I didn’t get an A-level in maths but even I can work out that 3.8 million divided by 10 is 380,000. How can LCC possibly justify paying some very lucky contractor this amount of money for a pedestrian crossing? It’s yet another outrageous example of the very lax attitude taken by those responsible for agreeing contracts when it’s taxpayer's money!
Joe Adkins
Worcester Road, Grantham
A wasted opportunity
I was surprised to see that the artist’s impression of the proposed new waste depot in Turnpike Close looks more like an office block/warehouse than a waste disposal site. (See Journal 5 July 2024, page 2). On further web investigation I found the minutes of a Joint Finance and Economic and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee council meeting on July 25, 2023 which “confirmed that the LCC recycling site would remain at Alexander Road, Grantham”.
Apparently it is only the offices and vehicle storage which are moving to Turnpike Close. How disappointing is that when the Turnpike Close site is in an industrial area and looks large enough to accommodate all facilities from the current site, including vital improvements? Surely it will be impractical for the current depot to be split between two entirely different sites? However, if that is the “best solution, instead of selling part of this site when the vehicles and offices are finally moved elsewhere, costing local council tax payers at least £10 million, surely it would be a great opportunity for the Alexander Road waste disposal facilities to be greatly improved?
Like many other local residents I had assumed that the whole of the Alexander Road site would transfer to Turnpike Close, with modernised facilities for actual waste disposal. My friend spent nearly half an hour queuing at the Alexander Road site on a recent Friday to dispose of his garden rubbish and noted that the site is no longer fit for purpose as the whole site is so inefficient, particularly at busy times. There are insufficient parking spaces for the volume of traffic and insufficient containers for all the different types of “waste” we need to dispose of.
I regularly visit a wonderful waste disposal site (on behalf of a family member), on the edge of Uttoxeter, Staffs, which is away from all housing, is easily accessible, has about 20 huge containers for all types of waste and is manned by a small team of cheerful, helpful men, who take a pride in keeping the place very clean and tidy. It is a pleasure to use this site, which can rarely be said of our Alexander Road depot. I am sure that the relevant SKDC/LCC officers would benefit by visiting the Uttoxeter site and we would all benefit from the introduction of such a facility in Grantham. It may even reduce the incidence of local fly-tipping, especially if opening hours increased, particularly in summer. The Uttoxeter depot is open daily until 6pm, but the Grantham one closes at 4pm, which must make it almost impossible for working residents to visit during the limited opening hours.
Something urgently needs doing about this major problem. Meanwhile the Turnpike Close site is lying empty with no work having been done in many months and building costs are soaring. What a waste!
Lynda North
Grantham
