TOWN FEARS: WHAT is happening in our town of Crook? While out walking with my dogs, I was on the Deerness Valley walk next to Peases West Sports Centre.

To my disgust, the two seats on the walk have been destroyed by fire by the teenagers who gather there at night, fuelled by drink.

I live nearby and the noise of them at night is disgraceful. I am no killjoy as I like to see youngsters enjoy themselves, but these are just mindless thugs.

Like in the Market Place, where they gather in groups and move the seats round in front of the Civic Centre.

Where are the police? I paid £880 council tax for what? Value for money? I don't think so. I think it is about time something was done about it before it gets out of hand. - B Alderson, Crook.

HOUSING SUPPLY

GAVIN Ellis (HAS, Oct 1) may well see a good deal more paving stones and concrete spreading across our green and pleasant land throughout the foreseeable future.

Either by design or neglect, successive governments have overseen a population growth which has far outstripped housing supply, with the effect on house prices that we see today.

The scarcity of building land inevitably drives builders and developers to buy up and knock down existing properties (many of them still useful and attractive) simply to allow better residential use of the site.

Darlington's White Horse Inn is merely an example of what is happening nationwide. Ironically, the current rise in population is almost entirely the result of immigration, which means that government has an unprecedented degree of control over our numbers, a control most unlikely to be exercised. - Bob Jarratt, Caldwell, Richmond.

SUPPORT THE PORT

I FAIL to understand why a container port cannot be set up at Teesside, regardless of the possible development of same in the South.

The advantages are obvious: more work and prosperity for the North-East, fewer lorries trundling the length of the country, with fewer exhaust fumes polluting the air.

If this Government is serious about reducing exhaust fumes from vehicles, to combat global warming, this port development would surely help. - Fred M Atkinson, Shincliffe.

SPEED CAMERAS

THE Government sets a threshold of at least four crashes involving death or serious injury before the safety camera partnerships can enforce speed limits using fixed speed cameras.

There must be two such crashes to use a mobile camera or a red light camera. This terrible 'body count' approach to law enforcement means that communities who want protection from speeding drivers must wait until their worst fears come true.

To require this scale of human tragedy in order to justify enforcement of speed limits is unacceptable. There is a clear relationship between speed and crashes. The faster you drive the less time you have to correct for a mistake. The higher the speed the more serious the consequences. Excess speed is the single most important factor in fatal car crashes. Drivers can choose whether to obey speed limits but we can't choose whether drivers speed on our roads.

The Government should abandon this 'body count' approach. Speed cameras should be used more effectively to prevent speeding drivers from causing injury and death. Waiting to tackle the problem after it happens ruins countless lives.

To find out more about why speed cameras work and why they should be used to prevent predictable and avoidable death, injury and anti-social behaviour, visit www.slower-speeds.org.uk/endthebodycounts. - Anna Semlyen, York.

TIDAL WAVE

THE frequency of letters about the "hotchpotch hopscotch" of planning and development issues in Darlington clearly indicates more than just an undercurrent of concern. It is more like a tidal wave.

Other letters have rightly asserted the view that politicians and councils are, in fact, servants of the citizenship.

More pertinently, they are elected by us to use "our" money wisely. One grows tired of national and local politicians preening themselves over the huge sums of money which they have spent on our behalf as if this money comes from some sort of rich, benevolent godfather.

Darlington always promoted itself as a " charming market town" with a centrepiece of the Market Square, Covered Market and High Row. Thus, the concept of " bringing Darlington up to speed with other towns" contradicts the uniqueness of what already exists. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. On the contrary, just enhance and maintain the uniqueness.

In recent months we have had a series of visitors from other towns. All of them equally appalled, not only by the changes taking place, but also by the neglect of other changes which aren't taking place.

Poor car parks which still retain the contours of the demolition land from which they originated, rusting railings around the ring road, a bus station which is an absolute disgrace, Feethams, going to ruin, and woeful car parking for a mainline station.

I (too often) read about "Beacon Status" at the council. Like many others, I am deeply sceptical about awards given out "by" government "to" its own political bodies. We cannot vote on these awards - but we can vote at the only awards that really matter. The ballot box. - Doug Embleton, Darlington

HOSPITAL PRAISE

DURING my stay in Darlington Memorial Hospital from May 12 until June 24 this year, I read about MPs condemning hospitals over MRSA infections.

It was also about poor ward cleanliness, lax hand-washing practices etc, which, it was said, was still plaguing NHS hospitals.

I wish to record that such conditions certainly do not apply to Darlington Memorial Hospital where I received the most efficient care during my stay. - E Scott, New South Wales, Australia.

TUNISIAN VIEW

JUST after the London Tube bombings, I enjoyed a fascinating holiday in Tunisia, an almost entirely Muslim country, but with small and well established Christian and Jewish communities.

I had long and interesting conversation with a local lawyer. Like other Tunisian Muslims I spoke to, he immediately denounced the crimes of July 7 as contrary to Islam, and expressed his sympathy for the victims.

He then told me of his hope that Tunisians could create a paradise in their country. His dream was of a liberal secular democracy, free from poverty, oppression and discrimination. "This is not just my dream," he said, "It is the dream of every Tunisian."

He particularly mentioned religious freedom: "Muslim, Christian or Jewish, we are all brothers and sisters."

With its authoritarian secular government, Tunisia has a long way to go to achieve this ideal. But in this country we seem to be moving in entirely the wrong direction, with our war-mongering government, the erosion of human rights, and increasing hostilty to immigrants and ethnic and religious minorities. Unless this trend is reversed, terrorism will not be defeated. - Pete Winstanley, Durham.