Centre is needed

The report regarding closure was not available to the public until four days before the council had a meeting to vote to close it (January 13, 2004).

Over 80 letters were sent asking for it to be kept open until new facilities were available in Richmond. Not one member of the council had the decency to discuss this with any of the groups which use the centre before the meeting - not the sort of behaviour one expects from a council with Beacon status.

At the meeting, almost all the committee members who voted for closure do not even live in Richmond.

The centre is almost fully used, and letters of support to keep it open came from our MP, mayor, after-school club, teachers, doctors, community care, pensioners, tourist associations and children.

The council suggests we use Brompton and Colburn sports centres. Both are not available in the evenings. Brompton has only one badminton court, and Colburn charges in the afternoon are up to three times more for badminton and table tennis, than any sports centre in the country, and it is a nine-mile round trip to get there.

The council proposes to give about £400,000 to Catterick Army Leisure Centre which will not be built for three to four years.

It also wants the Richmond Sports Centre site to be used for low-cost housing. I would like to point out that it is in a conservation area, and low-cost housing would not be compatible with the very good high quality housing already built in the Garden Village.

I hope the full council meeting will vote to keep Richmond Sports Centre open, until new sports facilities are available in the town.

R HUDSON

The Ghyll,

Richmond.

Common interests

Sir, - It was strange that you should have reported John Prescott's plan for the North- East region, and the excellent letter from Coun Caroline Seymour suggesting that North Yorkshire County is too big and disparate already (D&S, Jan 30).

I am strongly of the view that local government will always work best if the governed community has a community feeling, with common interests and needs; pride in the place where one lives is important too.

This does not apply to any of the regions proposed for England, and I am quite sure that devolution to these will never work satisfactorily; the residents of Northallerton have quite different interests from those of residents of Scarborough - never mind the geographical separation.

My own view is that some form of devolution is required, but that it should be for England as a whole, so that it is on a par with Scotland.

As a Scot, I cannot understand why the English are not clamouring for this so that they would no longer have Scottish MPs voting on matters which refer only to England.

There would then have to be a "Westminster" Parliament which would deal with UK-wide matters. The House of Lords would, of course, be concerned with this Parliament only.

DAVID BISHOP

West End

Guisborough.

Clear-cut choice

Sir, - I refer to Coun Seymour's letter "County too large" (D&S, Jan 30) which highlights the fundamental difference between myself and the Lib Dem leader on the county council.

It is now clear that Coun Seymour is content to abolish the council she was elected to serve on. In contrast I want to build upon the policies of an authority the Government has rated a good council with "excellent" services.

Yet despite already having a successful authority, Coun Seymour seems prepared to have you pay several more millions of pounds so she can feel things are a little more local.

Well first of all services are already very local - schools, libraries, care homes and the like. But more than this I realise people are fed-up paying more and more tax.

This is why I am proud to support the county council's single unitary proposal which would save millions of pounds of your money .

Why doesn't Coun Seymour worry - because it's the Lib Dem's old penny-on-the-pound trick again. That is your penny and your pound.

Each and every year this is their answer they roll out to fund their endless list of spending promises.

Coun JOHN WEIGHELL

Conservative group leader, North Yorkshire County Council.

Not our fault

Sir, - In response to the letter from J Breeds (D&S, Jan 30), I would point out the King's Garden scheme in Sowerby referred to is not ours.

On the question of street cleaning, this service has recently been reviewed and suggestions on how the service might be improved are currently under consideration.

Subject to setting our budget for next year, this will include an extra £50,000 to make improvements. Whilst fines and penalties can be imposed on those who litter, we would all prefer it if people disposed of their litter properly as littering is a shared responsibility between the community and the Council.

Coun ARTHUR BARKER

Leader, Hambleton District Council.

Apartment craze

Sir, - Whilst I know in some instances that Stockton Council is working with its hands behind its back re brown-field sites but what a shame Eaglescliffe has been so affected by this craze to build new apartments.

It seems that most of the larger houses that come to the market are demolished and the sites used for apartments. Already we have lost a beautiful building, The Garth - a typical Edwardian house - to be replaced with over 20 apartments, a sad loss. Another large Victorian house on Witham Road and Burlington House are now apartments.

Plans have also been put forward for:

* the demolition of The Rookery to build 36 flats;

* the demolition of four dwellings on Aislaby Road to be replaced with 50 houses/flats;

* Orchard Service Station to be replaced by ten townhouse and six apartments.

This is on top of 40 new houses at Hunters Green.

Traffic is already at a standstill at peak periods. The cycle lane, dual carriageway/speedtrack has not really helped and only created ill-feeling as drivers cut each other up near the traffic lights in an effort to get in front.

How can these proposals go through in such a lovely area where people chose to live because the housing is mostly original Victorian?

There must be someone who can put an end to this.

TINA BELL

Yarm Road,

Eaglescliffe.

Is this progress?

Sir, - In 1981, after spending a very uncomfortable morning in Athens airport with armed personnel and armoured vehicles patrolling, it was a great pleasure to land at Gatwick and see a young policeman armed only with a truncheon.

Now every airport has armed security, including smaller ones like our local Teesside airport. We haven't progressed for the better in the last 20 years.

JOHN BARR

Brinkburn Road,

Darlington.