02/02/04

There is only one person to blame and that is George Reynolds, who I did support when he first arrived.

But if you look more closely at it, was the new stadium, as good as it is, really needed at this particular time? I am sure Feethams could have been upgraded but it appears Mr Reynolds wanted to own the club lock, stock and barrel.

He does not know anything about running a football club - building a 25,000 seater stadium on average gates of 3-4,000; cutting players' wages so much that players were earning more at non-league level; banning supporters and press for saying things he didn't like; turning a £5m debt into a £20m debt.

He has single-handedly virtually wiped out a 120-year-old football club. - David Thomas Evans, Darlington.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

IN an effort to convince residents that one unitary authority is the way ahead for County Durham, John Shuttleworth is again promoting the already discredited view that a single unitary solution would create great savings when compared with other options.

The Director of the Boundary Committee, Archie Gall, has previously indicated that costs and savings resulting from any local government reorganisation which are being referred to by county councils in the review area, will be heavily dependent on the policy decisions to be taken by the elected councillors of any new local authorities that are created.

Accordingly, says Mr Gall, they cannot be used for cost modelling purposes without making assumptions about decisions to be taken by authorities that may be established some years in the future.

Rather than crystal ball gazing like Councillor Shuttleworth, I would ask people to look at evidence which is factual and to examine their council tax bills over the last five years. If they do, they will see that more than 80 per cent of the tax goes to Durham County Council, which has consistently imposed increases that have been significantly higher than the districts.

Therefore, if council tax payers want good local services delivered efficiently and economically, I would suggest that they opt for the three unitary council solution for County Durham supported by the districts. - Councillor M Iveson, Spennymoor.

IN his letter (HAS, Jan 17) Councillor John Shuttleworth criticises Sedgefield Borough Council and Wear Valley Council for their plans to save £60,000 per year by merging the control of their Homeline and Carelink services.

He puts a case for placing all services to the elderly under one unitary council such as Durham County Council, claiming it would save millions of pounds. He concludes his letter by stating that the bigger the merger the bigger the savings.

He must never have heard of the National Coal Board, British Steel, British Rail and the Royal Mail. These were all large mergers, also huge financial failures.

SBC and WVDC are slowly moving in the right direction in amalgamating their services with the future aim of creating a unitary council close to the electorate. The debate will be whether the residents of Spennymoor, Bishop Auckland, Shildon, Newton Aycliffe, Chilton, Ferryhill, Coundon and Leeholme with a total population of approximately 111,000 people living within a radius of 9.5 miles and constituting 65 per cent of the total population of SBC and WVDC, plus Teesdale District Council, would have their necessary interests considered by a hands-on approach rather than by remote control from Durham County.

A population of 111,000, which is the equivalent of that of Cambridge or Exeter or Winchester, should have the democratic right to decide their own future through close contact with councillors who will be in daily discussions with the electorate.

A football team cannot win the Champions League with the manager sitting in the directors box issuing instructions via a mobile phone.

He has to be down on the field alongside the players and that is the way for local government to operate so a prosperous future can be made available to all who reside in a small efficient unitary area. - Thomas Conlon, Spennymoor.

TEESSIDE AIRPORT

I AM rather amazed that councils should decide to re-name our local airport with a name which is already included in that of another - namely, Durham, in the tobacco growing region of United States. - R Johnson, Billingham.

COUNCIL TAX

THE people of Darlington are about to have an 8.4 per cent increase in council tax imposed on them.

The increase over a three year period will be nearly 30 per cent. Many people have seen their council tax double since 1997.

The decision on the increase for 2004-5 is disgraceful. It ignores representations from the community and arrogantly brushes aside the concerns of the elderly. The response given is that Darlington still has relatively low tax levels compared with other authorities but this is just not acceptable. People are where they are in their lives and a 30 per cent increase is a 30 per cent increase.

This Government has truly lost control of the local taxation agenda. They are allowing local authorities to more or less do as they wish and ignore warnings from central government. We now have a local taxation crisis which for many people is much worse than the poll tax.

The Deputy Prime Minister has called for local authorities who are proposing excessive council tax increases to hold a local referendum. An increase of four times the rate of inflation is excessive and I call upon our local councillors and our Member of Parliament to hold a referendum on the issue. - Alan Coultas, Darlington.

RAILWAYS

WITH the announcement of a survey into the possible reconstruction and reopening of the Leeds-Harrogate-Ripon-Thirsk-Northallerton lines, it is being widely acknowledged that the closures made in the 1960s resulting from Dr Beeching's review are in many cases expensive mistakes.

Some branch lines were closed and should have been, but not the above.

If the good doctor had a crystal ball in his kit surely it would have shown him the delays, bottleneck and diversions in today's remaining system.

The same comments on expensive to remedy incorrect decisions also apply to 'my' line - Wensleydale Railway.

The above would be a good feed for it. Then perhaps the region won't be starved of public transport investment from central government as it is today and it gets the line. - Michael Swan, Leeds.