Letters - February 27, 2018

My house shakes many times a day, as though affected by an earthquake, when a bus or heavy lorry passes by.

Authorities appear to work on the basis that potholes and other faults affect vehicles and they will take action (?) to avoid damage to vehicles, but, in my case, I suspect in many others too, these can also affect nearby houses and residents.

This can be either potential damage to the property or sometimes being woken up late at night or early morning, with the noises from my house crying out for help. A motorist might be able to claim for a burst tyre after driving over a deep pothole, can I claim for cracked rendering etc from constant shaking caused by road faults?

Contacting the authorities has been a waste of time over the past three years, with very little response and absolutely no action to my emails and letters. The local MP has provided some support but his letters have had no effect and sometimes get ignored.

Earlier in this letter, I questioned the action taken by authorities. There is a lot of talk about money set aside to deal with potholes but I ask: when was the last time, in the Lytham and St Annes area and beyond, have I seen anyone fixing a pothole?

There are roads that seem to be badly affected by them and have been for months and years. The roads from St Annes Road East down Church Road and into Lytham is riddled with potholes and are steadily getting worse.

I am aware of health and safety requirements but, I believe, one major reason why potholes take so long to repair is the time taken to carry out the work – setting up barriers, carrying out the work, then taking away barriers.

I have seen, on the continent and other countries, a lorry driving up, men jumping out, filling the hole and moving to the next one. It is about time someone created that type of process for us. Three years ago I asked the authorities to visit me to discuss the problem and maybe for them to experience what happens. This would take a short time but no visit, no reply.

St Annes resident

Church Road

CRIME

‘Empty shells’ face a bleak future

It is with sadness we learn of the homophobic attack on the victim by ‘thugs’ (a mild term when their intelligence is way below that of a gnat) after a night out (Kicked and Stamped on, Gazette, February 22).

Gay, transgender, transvestite, bisexual, straight, or a different nationality doesn’t give anyone the right to beat someone up because the culprits have decided they’re unique to everyone else, yet more than likely are already a blot on our landscape and on their way to a bleak future of magistrate courts and prison.

But wait, that’s what they want because they think they’re hard!

The other sad thing is, as a cosmopolitan town and leading tourist resort, the culprits have sent a clear message that no one is allowed to be out late at night without their approval.

The victims have been scarred for life but, rest assured, their lives are far superior to the empty shells they were confronted by and who, in the long term, will still be watching Big Brother as the highlight of their weekly viewing, and probably don’t even know what it’s about!

clifford chambers

Blackpool

BREXIT

Political party is bouncing back

As the Government is now preparing for the next round of negotiations with the EU, there still appears to be splits within the Cabinet, as indeed there are within the opposition party, which raises the question, will the 17.4 million who voted Leave really get what they voted for?

Like it or not, it was 
UKIP that caused the 2016 in/out EU referendum, following 23 years of campaigning and the then PM David Cameron ceding to the growing demands from the voters.

But as most of the establishment thought that their scaremongering tactics of “Project Fear” would be enough to maintain the status quo, they were not prepared for the Leave result that followed, nor what to do in the event.

Now, despite UKIP’s recent adverse publicity, they still have an important job to do.

That is to hold the Government to account 
over whatever deal they negotiate and ensure it satisfies the majority who voted to leave.

UKIP has been written 
off many times before but have always managed to bounce back, and with their new interim leader, members are returning and at least one Conservative councillor has now swapped over to the party as he is disappointed with the Tory Brexit talks.

Phil Griffiths,

North West political commentator 
and broadcaster

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Absurd reactions in the news

Without wishing to conflate a genuine tragedy with an absurdity, I don’t know which shocked me the most: Donald Trump’s reaction to grieving survivors of America’s latest mass shooting (a proposal of bonuses for gun-toting teachers) or reports that police are having to field customer complaints about KFC running out of stock.

Brian H 
Sheridan

via email