Readers have a lot to say about the news.
Here we publish some of the letters, emails and comments received throughout the week, including this cartoon by John Elson that addresses this article.
Don’t forget, you can always email us at [email protected].
By-elections cost money
I read with interest your article (Journal, 9 August 2024) about the dispute over calling a by-election for Grantham Town Council in the Springfield district. On the one hand, I can understand the point of view of Councillor Shorrock and the Labour Party. Democracy is important and our representatives should be elected. On the other hand, I can understand the point of view of Councillor Harrison. The Council is short of money and the by-election costs money that we do not have.
Both arguments are weaker, however, because they are both partly responsible for this problem. This is the new council’s first year, and its first budget had to be set by the county council. The Conservatives had no interest in the council. (After all, had they run, they would have lost.) So they tried to weaken the council by proposing a budget that was too small, and suggested that the council should have the same budget as the old Charter Trustees. That made no sense, since the Charter Trustees only elected a mayor. The point of a council is that it can do other things, like organize events, take a stand on planning issues, and, yes, hold by-elections when necessary. That would cost more money. However, Councillor Harrison and most of his independent members, as well as the Labour councillors, all stumbled behind the Conservatives and voted for a budget that was too small. And now we’re stuck with a problem that they created and that we all have to solve on the council.
John Morgan
Democratic Independent Councillor, St. Vincent District
Harrowby Road, Grantham
Disappointed about the closure of the store
Like many local ladies, I am more than disappointed to hear that BonMarché, the last dedicated ladies’ clothing store on Grantham’s High Street, is closing on Saturday 17th August. It will be sorely missed by all who regularly walk through the town centre and enjoy shopping there. I wish all the friendly shop assistants new jobs soon and hope that BonMarché can return to Grantham in the near future.
Even more worrying is the rumour that this prime shopping centre is likely to be sold and converted into yet more apartments: another nail in the coffin of a once thriving shopping area. Fingers crossed that SKDC come to their senses and do not grant planning permission for such a serious change of use. It would be a tragedy if our High Street became nothing more than a housing development, which appears to be the current aim of the local council, who recently granted planning permission to convert a number of prime city centre properties into residential homes. Is this another plan to force people to shop in the currently non-existent shopping villages on the outskirts 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 12th August when the weather was very hot and humid. According to the BBC it was the hottest day of the year. I heard a dog barking like mad and realised that it was locked in a car parked in the disabled bay there and that NO car windows were open. I can only imagine how hot and stuffy it must have been in the car.
Luckily the owner came and said it was all OK as she wanted 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 use 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 felt like a very hot oven.
It may not actually be illegal to leave a dog unattended in a car, but all dog owners should be aware that under the Animal Welfare Act, the owner could face an unlimited fine and up to 6 months in prison if this causes the dog to suffer. I hope this person thinks twice before leaving their little dachshund in a hot and stuffy car again.
Specified name and address
Low response to the garbage can survey
An article in the Lincolnshire Free Press on 6 August expressed disappointment at the low response rate (2,000) to the survey on rubbish bags and bins.
I just wasted 35 minutes trying to access the form and was passed around the entire council website before I finally saw a ‘please wait’ sign and 20 of those minutes were littered with a little blue circle that kept spinning. During that time I was doing my crossword.
If others have had the same problem, the low response is no surprise. We’re not all IT experts. All you have to do is check a box on the contact page that says “Waste Survey.” Check that and the form will appear. Fill it out, click “Submit” and you’re done.
Or is the complication intended to act as a deterrent so that the Council can do what it wants because of the low response, out of apathy?
I am in favor of keeping the bags.
TE Carter
Spalding
What is being done about the pub?
Why on earth is nothing being done about the terrible state of the Ye Olde White Horse Inn, an iconic Spalding building? Presumably the two ladies who drove their cars into the building were insured so the cost to the building’s owners should be minimal. Is there nothing the council can do to get them to fix the problem as soon as possible?
When I first came to Spalding 43 years ago, it was a very pleasant little town. There were many shops, two department stores, two good hotels on the market square and a thriving market twice a week.
Since then, it has more than doubled in size, but there are now many empty shops, no department stores, only one hotel and a very limited market.
It has become a town full of eyesores. The old Johnson Hospital and Nursing Home, the old Sorting Office, The Bull and Monkey, Ye Olde White Horse and many other smaller buildings have left a very bad impression on locals and visitors alike for decades.
There has to be something our city council can do to restore the city to its former glory. Is compulsory expropriation a way to force the property owners to either develop the land or sell it to someone who will?
Please no more hairdressers and gambling dens!!
I live in hope.
John Lister
Spalding
Thank you for the hard work on the monument
A few weeks ago I contacted Councillor Henry Bingham and asked if he could view the Second World War memorial in Ayscoughfee Gardens, Spalding.
What concerned me was that the monument was covered in bird droppings and the lettering on the monument base was weathered.
The councillor informed me that the council was currently working on the Lutyens Memorial and that he would ask his officers to look at the Second World War memorial.
On August 7th I was informed that both monuments had been completed. I would like to please thank the City Council and officials for their work. They will look great on VJ Day.
Rodney Grocock, Public Relations Officer, Spalding Branch of the Royal Naval Association
Think outside the box
I was informed that our government mandates that all food scraps must be collected in waste bins. To me, a bin is a container for storing valuables, a tea bin, a golf bin, even a Volkswagen Golf Caddy. As I got out of bed this morning, I decided to investigate what would happen to the food scraps in my waste bin. But first, let’s investigate what happens when I eat my food!
On my plate is a super-amazing takeaway meal that I eat. I produce about 250g of poop every day and this is flushed down my toilet with 20 liters of fresh water supplied by the waterworks that collects my poop.
So 75 million people in the UK produce 250g of faeces every day. How much? It’s easy to calculate! 18,750 tonnes a day. Enough to fill seven Olympic swimming pools. Every day. What a pity for the water companies who have to deal with this!
So I sat down on my New Buras porcelain toilet (I live in an old house – look it up?), did my business, and thought about all the leftover food that would go into my newly delivered food waste container.
I don’t peel my potatoes and carrots so there’s no waste there. My takeaway, OK, I enjoyed it. The leftovers from my wife’s homemade cottage pie (ground beef, carrots and onions, topped with cheesy mashed potatoes) go in the fridge to be eaten the next day with salad and cucumber for lunch. My basket of yellow supermarket produce, I don’t want that!
So do I need a food waste bin? Not at all. To recap: what I eat goes to a sewage treatment plant, is filtered, processed in a digester and the finished manure is returned to the land to fertilize the next crops, which I can then buy at the supermarket.
Simple solution. I have a food processor. I put the food in and it whizzes around to make soup. I pour the soup down my toilet and flush it. Done! Ideal for people who live on the top floor of a 10-story apartment block and would have to lug a caddy down to the ground floor.
One final thought: do we want another 35 million plastic bins in the UK? Supermarkets already have bin liners on their shelves. Do we really want another 35 million plastic bags a week to be sorted out of our food waste? And what unfortunate person is going to get a paid job picking bin liners out of the fermenting food waste?
On the other hand, many people in this country seem to have become so lazy that they don’t even bother to use a trash can! They just throw their food waste in the plastic trash can liner, put the plastic trash can liner in the black sack, put the black plastic sack in the plastic wheeled bin and, hey presto, off to the landfill or the new giant incinerators! And the plastic (re)recycling starts all over again. I wonder who the government will appoint to check the trash bags for signs of improper disposal of food waste?
Is it time for scientists to think outside the box?
Paul Matten
Green Lane, Spalding.
