It's your community, your issues...

Want to have your say on the issues affecting people in Aylesbury Vale?

Is there an issue that is angering you, that you want to debate in a public forum?

If you want to air your comments email The Bucks Herald with your views.

With regard to the article in The Bucks Herald of March 8, I would like to give my support to the proposed Princes Risborough Memorial Garden, which is desperately needed to enable people from the town to bury their loved ones locally. The town council has put in a tremendous amount of work and man hours trying to get consent for this project and it is to be congratulated for its efforts.
It does seem a shame that the generosity of a local resident in giving the land to the town should be thwarted by a very small minority when a local burial site is clearly  needed.
The needs of local people, many having lived their entire lives here, should be considered, especially the elderly and disabled who would have to travel to High Wycombe to visit loved ones’ graves and who would find it increasingly difficult as years go by.
From the plans put forward by the town council, it appears that it has been very sensitive to neighbours of the proposed Memorial Garden and has bent over backwards to try to allay their concerns. Apparently, for the first 10-15 years the neighbour’s property would be separated from the Memorial Garden by a field, and during that time trees and hedging would be planted, forming an attractive screen.
This Memorial Garden is desperately needed for this generation and in the future; and the small concerns of a few should not be allowed to jeopardise the whole project, which is essentially something which will affect all of the people in the town.

ANGELA M EGGLLETON
Monks Risborough

I would like to reiterate my support for Stewkley Library. I believe it is a unique case and should be viewed on its own merits, for reasons set out below:
l Stewkley Library Group was assured less than 18 months ago by the county council that the library was not under threat of closure (that’ll be before the county council elections, then). Clearly, with these comforting words, they felt no urgency to plan a contingency.
l Its book selection appears to have been systematically run down over a similar period.  Strangely enough, the criteria used to determine which libraries should close was based on a per issue cost.  A per capita figure, on the other hand, would have given a much healthier showing and Stewkley would not have been included on the axe list.
l The county council has not helped itself to defray the running costs of the library by leaving the flat above empty for some ten years.  AVDC has an Empty Homes Strategy for private sector homes; the county council has privately rented out the flat in the past and has no responsibility for public housing, so why has this asset been ignored for so long? 
Obviously loss-making enterprises should be the subject of scrutiny, but my cynicism in this case is apparent from my earlier comments - at best, the county council appears to have been remiss in not using its resources efficiently and, at worst, underhand and untruthful. The added current use of the building by way of a doctor’s surgery and post office counter is further evidence that Stewkley library must be saved for the community - it’s the right thing to do in light of the above ‘anomalies’.
Janet Blake
District councillor,Stewkley ward

Today (Wednesday) Aylesbury Vale District Council’s development control committee will meet to agree the conditions to be imposed upon the proposed 18,000 bird, free range, organic chicken farm at Aston Abbotts.
It approved the application last September, subject to certain conditions, in spite of an exceptionally high level of objections from parish councils and individual members of the public.
As so often happens, the fact that there were good planning reasons against the application held little sway.
However, while it is doubtless not a valid planning objection, establishing a new poultry enterprise at this time must surely count, at best, as totally lacking in common sense. At worst, it could be seen as an act of appalling negligence.
Avian flu is a wing beat away - it may already be in this country’s wild bird population. It will certainly be here before long. Those who have connections with agriculture or live in rural areas will not be reassured by the way governments, MAFF or DEFRA, have handled previous epidemics such as BSE and Foot and Mouth. Certainly the British government seems to be taking the threat far less seriously than other countries such as France and the Netherlands.
Unlike Foot and  Mouth, avian flu will be with us for years rather than a few months. Unlike Foot and Mouth, which has infected virtually no human beings over the course of years, there is a strong likelihood that the virus will mutate to a form which will spread among human beings.
Surely, if planning regulations cannot stop, or at least delay, new poultry businesses, there must be some corner of a forgotten Health and Safety regulation that can be called upon to protect us.
Clare SHORROCK
Aston Abbotts

I am writing to voice my dismay at the suggested demolition of this thriving, well-attended church of which I am myself a member (St Joseph’s, Aylesbury).
I am aware that in this world of materialism and pressure,  God is not as 'cool' as maybe he once was.
For the hundreds of people who regularly attend services at the church, however, St Joseph's is a very important part of our lives.
For the town of Aylesbury, what message does it send that the moral, ethical, cultural and spiritual provision given by the church, would be better provided by a couple of new shops.
Surely we should be supporting and encouraging any venue that enriches the lives of so many people and where so much happens that is good.
Lorraine Gregory
 by e-mail

You will find not only the parishioners of St Joseph’s Church use the church but Catholics who come to Aylesbury to do their shopping. 
Many attend the morning Mass in the week especially the elderly. They are retired and find peace and comfort starting the day with Mass.  Many pop into the church to light a candle for an intention or just to reflect on their life. Do not take this away from them. 
St Clare’s is definitely not big enough to take the congregation of St Joseph’s.  Many will not be able to get to the other parishes as they cannot drive. Please take this into consideration.
Is there anything wrong with St Joseph’s? Is it not structurally sound?  Well why get rid of it and waste more of the diocesan money?
Pete Saunders
Aylesbury

I would like to be a small voice to add to add to the debate over St Joseph’s Church.
Not only does St Joseph’s have great sentimental value to myself and many church-going families in Aylesbury, it is a sacred site and is of  incalculable religious importance.
Where is God in the argument?
If you save the church, the church will save you, and please respect our religion.

CHARLOTTE HARRIS
Aylesbury

I was most concerned when I read about the proposals the council is putting forward to downgrade the provision being made for people with learning disabilities in their day centres across the county.

The fact that the dedicated people who are employed in the centres are considering strike action must surely ring alarm bells in everyone’s mind.

Reading between the lines the council will either employ staff who are less qualified and pay them less money or force those already working in the service to reapply for the jobs they are now doing and then receive a much reduced salary.

Caroline Penfold was quoted as saying that the number of senior posts would be reduced and then in time more junior posts will be created. To translate this business speak into reality it means that the work these dedicated caring people are doing  will be downgraded and the workers will have a choice - either they can do the same valuable work for much less money or leave the service that they love, and feel called to do, and seek less fulfilling work elsewhere.

I have lived in Aylesbury for almost 40 years and spent the majority of that time as a teacher at The Grange School. Since my retirement I have been working part-time for the Methodist Church in this area.

Some of the clients who attend the day centres for people with learning disabilities attend some of our churches with their carers and I see at first hand the wonderful love and concern the carers provide.

In my opinion, having taught some difficult children over the years, these people have enormous patience and understanding and the vulnerable people they care for deserve the best care our society can provide.

The questions that are going through my mind are:

Is it ethical to target the services provided for the most vulnerable members in our community in this way?

Is it legal to downgrade a job and pay less for it just because it is convenient at this time?

And finally, who would want to vote for a council who would consider such options?
ARTHUR SARA
Aylesbury

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Once again the learning disabled have been targeted as part of Bucks County Council’s budget cuts.

They are the most vulnerable of people who are currently in receipt of a pared back, basic and fragmented service.

Caroline Penfold says that by cutting senior posts in day centres, it would be possible to create more junior posts.

In this instance I wonder just how much money there is to play with as the rates of pay are disgracefully low in this sector.

Are junior and probably inexperienced staff what the learning disabled deserve?

It is outrageous that the disabled, many of whom are unable to speak for themselves, are being used for budgetary control purposes.

The money saved could be recovered quite simply by slicing out just a small proportion of senior management in County Hall.

Ms Penfold also says that there has been a huge change in the approach to supporting people with learning disabilities.

However, she does not say if it is for the better. I fail to see how cuts in an already inadequate budget can be an improvement.

Whilst I appreciate the difficult task of cutting budgets, it is the responsibility of Bucks County Council to manage their resources equitably. That is what they are paid for.
Where is the money going? Why have they got into this situation when other counties are managing their resources effectively?

It can’t all be the fault of central government.
AMY MONK
Chesham

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A civilised society is judged by how it treats the most vulnerable. The proposed cuts to services in Bucks beggars belief.

The Children’s Occupational Therapy Service is currently seeing children from a March 04 waiting list(and this is before the cuts).~

Bucks Council seems to expect those most vulnerable and at risk to go without even the most basic help. Is this debt because of their previous bad budgeting, or because of billions spent by a Labour government on an unwanted war?

As a parent of a three year old with special needs and epilepsy I would very much like to know.

But whatever the reason, surely the rights of my child and other vulnerable children and adults to decent services is worth all of us fighting for.

Mrs V Smith
by email

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Councillor Letheren’s comments suggest she thinks that the population of Aylesbury are all idiots. Please ask her to be honest and admit that the doubling of long stay charges is:

To coerce more lower-paid people to use the bus service to get to work 

Avoid having to provide more parking space as the town’s population is set to increase 

To increase council revenue

Short stay car parks are often the only ones with spaces available for a worker who starts work later than 9am.

As to her comment that short term users find £2 for three to four hours attractive, I thought that three to four hours was a ‘long-stay’ and if they choose to park further away from the town centre why on earth should they be discouraged from doing so?

Perhaps long-stay car parks should be renamed ‘all day’ ones if that is indeed her plan.

Hazel Edwards, Aylesbury

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I refer to the announcement of price rises for long-stay parking in Aylesbury town centre. Also to the covering article that appeared in The Bucks Herald on February 15 in which Cllr Valerie Baxter, district council cabinet member for asset management, is quoted to the effect that the changes are necessary in order to deter shoppers taking advantage of reduced long-stay parking rates.

She continued: "The current structure means that it can be cheaper for shoppers to park for up to half a day in a long-stay car park, which means that there are fewer spaces left for workers.

"Although it should cost long-stay parkers more, they should find a better supply of parking spaces because short-stay parkers will be discouraged from parking in those car parks.

"Equally, the increase in short-stay fees for over four hours will help keep workers out of short-stay car parks and ensure that there is a reasonable supply of spaces for short-stay visitors such as shoppers"

If this is the true motivation rather than a gift-wrapped argument for doubling the revenue from long-term parking, then councillors must have been having a Mad Hatter's tea party when they passed the legislation.

When these plans are actioned the majority of those who drive to work in Aylesbury will need to donate an extra £10 every week to the council in order to sustain their employment. How many annual pay rises will it take to make that up? Think of the impact it will have on the lower paid and those who are struggling to raise families - £10 could cover the cost of feeding a child for a week or paying for a breadwinner's mid-day meals.

And the only advantage that the council can offer to those affected is that they should find it easier to get a parking space!

Councillors had better hope that they do, and that they think it worth the price. Are councillors unaware that those who work in Aylesbury generally arrive at the car parks before visitors in order to prepare for business? There is little competition from shoppers at 8.30 in the morning.

The visitors and shoppers will gain nothing. They may not pay more for short term parking, but they will for longer stays, and if the given logic is extrapolated then it will be seen that short-term visitors may actually find fewer dedicated parking places available because more people will be discouraged from using the long-stay parks thus increasing demand for places in the short-stays. When demand exceeds supply the shorter stay visitors will be forced back into the long-stay car parks. The equation balances exactly. Nobody gains and prices rise. The only way to change the balance is to change the availability of the resource.

No amount of management accounting can disguise the underlying problem of inadequate parking in and around the town centre. So why not bite the bullet and provide ample cheap parking rather than trying to free space by making part of the existing resource unaffordable.
And forget any argument that this will encourage more people to use public transport to get to work. Great, if it were timely, efficient, cheap and convenient, but it isn't.
When councillors hear a huge cheer for this scheme from those who live, work and shop in Aylesbury, then they will know that they are serving the community. If, as I suspect, there are more boos than cheers then it were better that they move aside before they are pushed and make way for those who would put their brains before their seats in order to serve those who elected them.

Malcolm Summers
Aylesbury

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It is with great interest that I have been following your campaign to persuade Mr Prescott to promise sufficient assistance to cover the infrastructure that is essential for all the proposed new housing in the Vale of Aylesbury, and I applaud the efforts.

However, surely our efforts should be to encourage the county council, AVDC and all the subsidiary bodies to say no to the increased density within the area, which is already at saturation point.

Some of us have had the benefit of being born and brought up in what was green and pleasant land. Many more have chosen to come here for work and homes. Companies have been coming here since the late 19th century onwards: Hazells to escape overcrowding in London, Nestle (as the Condensed Milk Company or Anglo Swiss Milk Company) to be amongst the best grazing ground, and consequent milk production in the area, followed by dozens of others.

Aylesbury town now dominates the Vale and the nearby villages are almost swallowed up, and have become dormitories. Traffic congestion is intolerable without adding more housing, where no doubt the occupants will clutter the streets with their cars, rather than using garages or off street parking.

No longer do townsfolk know their neighbours, and the lack of local identity leads to petty crime, making fear a consistent hazard for the young and the elderly.

Surely we have accepted our share of the demographic movement and Mr Prescott should concentrate on re-industrialising the North.

DAPHNE EDGAR
Haddenham

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I am currently researching, with Andrew Shouler, a book about the United Counties Omnibus Company. We are keen to collect anecdotes from people who have worked for the company, in any capacity, at any period of the company’s history - for however long or short a period.
I can be e-mailed at robert.cook21@btopenworld.com
Thanks for your kind attention.
R J Cook
Appledene, Tennis Lane, Winslow, Bucks MK18 3HR

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I think that the new building site at Weedon Hill as well as the further plans to build at Berryfields, Little Horwood airfield and all across the Beds and Bucks area spell disaster for the whole area.
The beauty of our countryside as well as the character of our towns and villages, which currently make Bucks a great place to live, are at stake. It is criminal that another chunk of the famously historically beautiful Aylesbury Vale is being concreted over, with more desecration to come.
Along with the environmental disaster bigger problems loom in the already straining transport infrastructure as well as in the public services and amenities including doctors, dentists, hospitals, shops - you name it. If we accept that a massive amount of new houses are needed in the area (which I don’t) there has to be better places to build rather than on beautiful green fields in areas where traffic already queues for hours every day and facilities are strained to bursting.
There has to be a better way.
Ian Forster
Winslow

 
As a long term Aylesbury resident, living on the current ring road(?), Weedon Road, and having attended the recent Watermead residents meeting at Aylesbury Football Club , AVDC appears to be blind to the views of its own residents.
Traffic gridlock is a fact of life in Aylesbury, and should have been attended to 20 years ago, not in 20 years’ time.
Forty ton plus lorries passing through residential estates will result in a major accident. Like dormant volcanoes, we all know it will erupt one day. You cannot un-invent the car, so AVDC make room for it on our roads today.Alan Pierce
by email

As a resident of High Wycombe who travels to work in Aylesbury I was interested to note the comments made by residents about petrol prices there being higher than in other surrounding towns.
That has not always been the case. Some 20 years ago my father had cause to visit Aylesbury once a week in the course of his work. At that time Aylesbury was noted for having lower petrol prices than here in High Wycombe, and so he would fill his tank before returning home. (I believe the garage he used was called Keith's garage).
When I started working in Aylesbury I was surprised to find that the reverse is now true. I live within a very short drive of three filling stations and all charge the same price. As you can imagine I am always careful to ensure that I have enough fuel for my round trip to Aylesbury.
Mrs E Tranter
High Wycombe

It seems to me people in Aylesbury are saying a resounding ‘no’ to the government’s proposals to dump vast numbers of houses across the local area and in my opinion quite rightly so.
Even if the massive amount of money required for infrastructure is made available (by no means certain) what we are facing is planned destruction of the countryside the like of which has never been seen before in this area.
Under these plans there is no doubt that miles of irreplaceable countryside will be lost for ever, turning the area into a vast urban sprawl.
It is also worth mentioning that this planned assault on the countryside is also going to affect many areas right across the south east, meaning that there really won't be any countryside at all.
These proposals are the biggest threat to rural Britain this country has ever seen, I have no doubt that if plans were in place to concrete over the countryside across the Channel in France this would not be tolerated and we would be seeing massive protests on the streets of Paris.
I would like to point out that I don't think anybody is seriously suggesting no new houses should be built at all, in fact I totally understand the need for more affordable housing.
However, what’s being planned is vastly inappropriate for the local area.
We should have new homes but in sensible numbers such as the existing local plan for Berryfields/Weedon Hill and appropriate new housing levels across the outlying towns and villages but not this massive assault on the countryside we are facing.
We must all protest to stop this madness before it’s too late.
William Stungo
Longwick

With reference to the recent, welcome, letter from Allan Horne in The Bucks Herald, about the parking and traffic problems in the Turnfurlong area, a few points to consider:-
1) Problem:-  Cars parked Monday to Friday, seriously disrupting the traffic flow.
Answer:-   Prohibit parking in Turnfurlong, Fairmile, and other local roads, for two or three time slots during the day, thus preventing drivers from leaving their cars for the whole working or school day, and enforce the rule.  
2) Problem:-  Grass verges destroyed by anti-social driving habits, or Grammar School boys in studded boots - (verge on Grammar School side of the road in a much worse state than the other side).
Answer:-   Do away with the verges, tarmac them to produce much needed wider pavements, and erect bollards or a barrier rail similar to the one near the Grammar School, to prevent pavement parking.
3) Question:- Why do drivers park on grass verges and ruin them, yet near the High School, where there is a wide pavement and no verge, they park with all four wheels firmly on the road, thereby constricting traffic flow ? ( I do not condone parking on the pavement, but just wondered why this is the case).
4) Nostalgic point:-  When I was at the Grammar School, all pupils travelled to school by one of four methods; walk, cycle, bus/coach, or delivered in a car by a parent.  If the current trend of petroleum-propelled pupils perpetuates, the schools should surely have a moral obligation to provide parking facilities on site. This would also help prevent the even worse chaos caused by visiting parents on open evenings, etc. 
Other solutions, like a one-way system, could be considered, but I fear the council will do nothing constructive. Residents in Turnfurlong, who have lived there far longer than I, will be thinking that these problems have been around for many years, with no acceptable solutions ever introduced.

Rod Bacon
Turnfurlong, Aylesbury

Does anyone care about what is happening around us and being destroyed in the name of John Prescott and his desire to concrete over everything?
The urban sprawl and destruction of the countryside referred to by Carol Heslin and P Hinton (The Bucks Herald 18/01/06) is already in progress. For example we Bishopstone residents are no longer able to walk outside our homes as our 18ft wide road is now used as a fast bypass every day by hundreds of vehicles, not only by commuter and school run traffic but by huge continental vehicles as well. We have no footpaths and to walk through the village is pure suicide. We use our cars to get to the one letterbox we have, it being too dangerous to do otherwise.
Our small villages and hamlets - unique and beautiful over the years - are being destroyed at a rapid rate. Soon there will be no green space between huge housing estates and tiny villages such as ours and these will be lost forever.
 
Janet Cope
Bishopstone

Parents and young people thinking about education choices post-16 should reflect that the League Tables, published this week, seriously underestimate many local colleges’ performance.
The tables only give points for A levels and some key skills, so the equally challenging vocational qualifications which students may be studying get no points at all. This automatically seriously depresses the points score of the many colleges offering a wide range of vocational qualifications. Nor do the tables yet reflect the progress which individual students have made. These ‘value-added’ scores – for schools and colleges - will not now be published until January 2007.
The Association of Colleges believes these problems mislead parents and young people about the best choices to make post-16. The fact is that your local college – even if it has done very well this year – is likely to be even better than the tables show. Rather than make a judgement based on faulty information, the best course of action is to see for yourself what your local college has to offer.

Dr John Brennan
 Chief Executive
Association of Colleges

May I appeal for the help of your readers in respect of the badger cull being considered by the minister, Ben Bradshaw.
Professor Bourne, part of the team that has been working for the Government with a major report (Krebbs) has complained to the minister over this cull, saying it would only work if every badger throughout the county is culled, it would be a massive job and cost a vast sum. It is worth noting that there is no scientific evidence to show that badgers give cattle TB and much to suggest that cattle give badgers TB. He goes on to say that the main problem is illegal cattle movements and in many cases poor care of cattle on some farms. He suggests the introduction of the new Gamma Interferon TB test for cattle, that is close to 100 per cent accurate, compared to our current test that is only one third accurate.
It is worth noting that when this test was used in Australia, two million cattle were found to have TB - they were all slaughtered and the country is now TB free.
How can you help? Write to our MP, asking him to pass your letter on to Ben Bradshaw, condemning this suggested cull. Write to him at the House of Commons in London, SW1A OAA.

IAN ROBERTSON
Chairman,
Bucks Badger Group

Paul Hales, Herons View, Normans Bay, East Sussex. BN24 6PU paulhales@normansbay.co.uk.

Your report about the roadworks says it all about the madness of the government's ideological drive to build 500,000 new homes in the South East. 

The fact that BCC's transportation co-ordinator, Madeline Howe,  can say that the county is giving advanced warning so that motorists can find alternative routes and that 'they would be foolish to think there won't be teething problems' resulting from developments north of Aylesbury, informs us that it is in fact washing its hands of the inevitable stress and chaos that is going to result. 

If the dreadful drive for more houses had anything remotely to do with planning, she would not be reduced to the comment: 'Inevitably we will have to wait and see what the effects of all this are going to be.' 

Clearly the county has meekly sat back while this centralising government, hell bent on the destruction of rural England, rides roughshod over all.

Let's forget all the nonsense about pretending to solve the housing crisis. Official figures inform us that nearly half of new homes will be for folk from outside the area and building more homes will have no effect on reducing  rising house prices- our  crazy economy depends on house price inflation.

Local people in the Vale of Aylesbury and Milton Keynes can thus look forward to a steady decline in quality of local life as infrastructure crumbles under the weight of all this new concrete, bricks and mortar.

The whole drive for growth is blatantly unsustainable, but the great British Public seem never to have been as apathetic.

The county council and national government have no right to get away with such arrogant and high-handed decision-making, all in the name of greed.

It may be the case that local government has been emasculated by the social engineers of New Labour, but our councillors could at least do something to distance themselves from the madness by stating clearly that they are not responsible and have lost all power to restrain large scale development schemes.

The people need to know that their country is being destroyed and by whom.

Robert Cook
Winslow town councillor
and chairman of North Bucks Parish and Town Councils Consortium.

Your recent article regarding the plight of Watermead residents facing a 45 minute delay to travel one mile into town with the forthcoming roadworks surely gives the residents the solutions they are all waiting to be told, as they seem somewhat unable to fathom it out for themselves.

1. Walk. The average walking speed is 2-3mph, so, it’s not rocket science, it would take approx 20-30 mins to walk, quicker than the queue.

2. Cycle

3. Car share and reduce the queue. How many cars from the Watermead estate will have the driver only sat in it, whilst sat in the queue?

4. Public transport. Don't criticise the bus system offered to you, embrace and use it.

If I am correct in thinking, the Fairford Leys residents, had similar concerns, and with the introduction of dedicated bus only lane with traffic light switching transponders, cycle routes and protected walkways into town things seem to be working well, and I believe similar will be installed for Watermead and the new Weedon estate.

Why do people want to be told alternatives all the time, can’t they work it out for themselves?

Wanting the council to come up with alternative routes for them, so, read a map, listen to local radio, or tune the Sat Nav in.

Some people are so cocooned in their own little comfort zone of daily routine and normality, that come along a disruption they are completely stumped and unable to think of a  solution and would rather someone else do it for them, so the blame sits firmly with the solution finder should it go wrong, but, if it goes right nothing’s said.

Richard Rolfe
Aylesbury

David Bradnack, Thame Road, Haddenham

A disappointing theme to Christmas this year for some residents of Bedgrove. Wanton vandalism by the usual hordes of marauding youths who seem hell-bent on causing misery and distress for people.

A minority whose parents obviously have the same values as their kids by allowing them to wander aimlessly about the town and estates of Aylesbury without a care or thought of what they might be up to.

‘Chavs’ is the correct terminology I believe, a classic example of what is wrong with society today.

I had my Christmas lights torn down by such mindless morons within a few days of them being put up, much to my daughter’s distress, and subsequently they didn’t get replaced and probably won’t.

Neighbours suffered the same problem as did a few other houses I saw.

Not only that but someone, who was very obviously illiterate, decided on New Year’s Eve that it would be great fun to go around and use a marker pen to scrawl on people’s electricity boxes at the front of their houses.

What next? They get more and more brazen as months go by. This country is going soft in terms of justice and our legal system is a joke.

The reason these individuals carry on doing what they do is simple – they know they can get away with it, with little, or in most cases, no recriminations.

If they get caught they are processed and given more rights than the victim who suffers financially, mentally and in some cases physically. They are cautioned, told not to do it again and sent home to carry on handing out the grief and misery.

What will it take for the government to sit up and move into the real world where we the real people live and suffer the problems we do?

I have had damage caused and suffered financial loss as a result of these individuals and I know they are still out there doing it and will continue to do so unless something is done to persuade them otherwise.

Do we really want the public to start up vigilante groups to ‘deal’ with them?

Andy Angus, by email

An unsatisfactory answer

I refer to the recent letters regarding AVDC’s recycling policy and specifically the reply from David Smedley, head of Environmental health and licensing services.

I believe the question was “…if other authorities can recycle these items why can’t we?”  Mr Smedley has given his reasons why AVDC can’t, may I suggest that a defence for the use of a certain contractor is not a good enough reason. 

Yellow Pages and other ‘brown’ paper waste can be recycled, just because the current contractor can not handle it does not make it impossible or indeed difficult.

For example, Yellow Pages even encourage and work with local authorities to find contractors who will accept their product for recycling.

As for recycling other products, to suggest that collection vehicles have a greater environmental impact than encouraging hundreds of residents to use their own vehicles to drive to a HRWC is surely wrong.

I also fail to understand why we need to know that shredded paper can cause problems with containment at the contractor’s site, and in any case if he were to read up on composting he would know it can be used in compost bins.

All in all a very unsatisfactory answer.
Instead of defending the indefensible, perhaps it would have been more appropriate to agree to review the current schemes and contracts with a view to extending the range of items that can be collected from households and therefore maximising the recycling of our waste.

After all this should not be about collecting statistics and hitting targets but doing the right thing.

Chris Neill
Aylesbury

Confusion over recycling 

I am becoming more and more confused over which items can be recycled.

AVDC’s District Link of November 2005 said: “Confused about what can be recycled? Don’t be with our easy guide.” It then went on to list items which they didn’t want including - “envelopes and plastic wrappings”.

The response to letters in The Bucks Herald in the last two weeks by David Smedley, head of environmental health and licensing services which appeared in The Bucks Herald of December 14 states: “Envelopes including the gum on the flap, either with or without windows, can also be recycled as long as they are white.”

These conflicting statements add yet more confusion. Which are we to believe?
Additionally, the constraints now imposed on plastics for recycling as per District Link have virtually cut our recycling basket contents by half. If other local councils can provide recycling facilities for most types of plastics, why not Aylesbury Vale?

David Cook
Aylesbury

Housing targets concern

In last week's Bucks Herald you reported the county council's decision to build 1,060 new houses each year in Aylesbury Vale, despite 96 per cent of local residents consulted by the council expressing the view that this target is too high.

The target of 1,060 new houses is, in fact, the figure set by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister earlier this year against the advice of the Independent Panel which conducted a public examination of the Milton Keynes and South Midlands Strategy in April 2004.

The Independent Panel concluded that such a high housing rate would not be sustainable and recommended a lower rate.

Vale of Aylesbury CPRE (the Campaign to Protect Rural England) is very concerned that the county council has apparently decided to endorse the high and unsustainable housing targets for Aylesbury Vale set by the ODPM, and seems to have ignored the views of local residents and the Independent Panel.

Indeed, we have difficulty in understanding why the county council embarked on the consultation exercise if it is not prepared to take on board the views of 96 per cent of the people who responded.

The council's decision also begs the question of whether the public money expended on the pointless consultation exercise could have been put to better use at a time when other vital services are being cut back due to lack of funds.

ALAN MYERS
Chairman, Vale of Aylesbury CPRE

Time to regulate cyclists

Travelling through Haddenham this morning at 7.30am, in pitch darkness, I witnessed two very near misses between motorists and adult cyclists through the chicanes in Thame Road.

In both cases the cyclists had no front or rear lights, wore dark clothing, were obscured by the glare from the headlights of following vehicles, and totally ignored the cycle path put there for their use and safety.

In one case the cyclist hurled abuse at the car driver, clearly believing himself to be without fault.

Then, on stopping at the traffic lights before the narrow bridge at Launton, I watched another adult cyclist, again without lights, blithely ride through a red light and into the path of approaching vehicles.

Cyclists are very fond of criticising motorists, despite the majority having cars themselves, but when are the police going to start regulating them, in the same way as drivers? Or would that mean less time for revenue-gathering speed traps?

David Essex
Haddenham

Charity begins at home

I seem to recall some weeks ago an article in which the leader of Bucks County Council stated that we were due to face a substantial increase in our council tax due primarily to a decrease in funding from central government.

It is truly quite bizarre to have a situation whereby central government is prepared to allocate billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to fund infrastructure projects in eastern Europe, such as a new sewage works in Bucharest or improvements to the rail system in Poland, when at the same time we have pensioners who are prepared to go to prison because they can’t afford to pay the increases in council tax, a National Health Service that is finding it difficult to make ends meet, and where the needy can’t get a flu jab because we have run out.

At this time of the year I, like many others, receive numerous letters from various charities asking for help to assist those less fortunate in our society.
Perhaps after having made whatever gesture we are able to afford, we should forward the correspondence to Downing Street to remind those that govern us that charity really does begin at home.

M Hill
Aylesbury

What about cardboard?

I, too, wrote to Bucks County Council and Aylesbury Vale District Council regarding the items about recycling in their magazines.

I asked why cardboard can’t be recycled – in a few weeks there will be hundreds of cardboard cartons waiting to be collected for landfill.

Why are envelopes not wanted? Thousands of envelopes must be discarded each working day and also end in landfill.  Neither of these are the public’s fault. 

To blame us and then threaten council tax rises smacks of bad management. If your recycling company refuses these items then change the contractor.

I contacted three councils – Chiltern District, Wycombe and an inhabitant of Cherwell District in Oxon – all of whom said cardboard, envelopes, and Yellow Pages are taken in the paper collection and expressed, shall we say, surprise when I told them that AVDC takes none of these.

Some months ago I phoned AVDC’s refuse department to ask how it would like shredded paper presented, eg, in a carrier bag. After some consultation with a colleague the answer was, we don’t take it, it clogs the machinery.

And where does BCC get a figure of 1.4 tonnes of waste per home each year? How is waste defined? The wording of the recent questionnaire we were asked to complete raised even more questions.

Perhaps we might get public pronouncements from officials in due course. But it would still be our fault.

S SHERWOOD
Stone

LET'S CELEBRATE TOWN'S HISTORIC ROOTS

In his letter, Great Cities of Civilisation, Mr McGowan reminded us of the important contribution that the cities of Kabul and Baghdad have made over millennia to our world’s story.  While Aylesbury may not be in the same league as these two cities, its history nonetheless merits more than the four lines Mr McGowan gave to it.
Aylesbury’s story is an ancient one beginning over 2000 years ago with its Iron Age hill fort and later Roman settlement.
The Anglo-Saxons arrived in 571, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.  Around 675 King Frithuwold and Queen Wilburh had their royal palace at Quarrendon, and they founded St Mary’s church for the queen’s sister, Abbess Edith.
By the end of the Saxon period, the town could boast the most important Minster Church in the region, a royal manor, a mint, and an established market.
So Aylesbury was already old by the time of the Norman Conquest and the town’s appearance in the Domesday Book of 1086. 
It went on to acquire a medieval castle, a friary and two hospitals, as well as seeing the magnificent rebuilding of St Mary’s church and its dependent chapels such as Bierton.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I Aylesbury could boast a fine country mansion at Quarrendon, grand enough for a Queen to visit – though it is not sure that she ever did.  The civil war, the arrival of the canals and the railways all left their mark on the town as did quite a few people, some if only by association: John Hampden, Oliver Cromwell, John Wilkes and Benjamin Disraeli to name but those who contributed to the growth of our modern democratic society.
Certainly we should celebrate Kabul and Baghdad. However, Aylesbury should not be overlooked.  It is an ancient town which owes a lot of its contemporary character, diversity and vitality to these enduring historic roots. Let’s celebrate it!

Corry Cashman
AVDC councillor for Cheddington ward

Plea from Prebendal Farm

I am writing on behalf of Prebendal Farm Residents’ Group. For a long time the play area on Somerville Way has become more and more decrepit. No equipment is replaced, only repaired. At present four swings are missing. Other play areas around Aylesbury have been renewed.

As chairman of the residents’ group for the past 18 months, I have come across many councillors who, in the run-up to elections make promises they cannot keep.  If they got down to the business they were elected to do, residents like myself would not have to take on the job themselves. 

The residents’ group comprises local people who are committed to making changes to the area where they live, whilst juggling their own jobs and family commitments.  We have resorted to finding money from other sources, eg, Thames Valley Police recently paid for a six-week youth drop-in club, and Aylesbury Town Council paid for a bench and doggie/litter bins.  No other assistance at all. 

If more residents ‘kicked up a stink’ about the amount of red tape and buck-passing on the part of AVDC/BCC then maybe more would be achieved. 

I would like to invite any local councillor to visit the play area on Prebendal Farm and make comment on it. As to the recent letters on the subject of the traffic lights, I can assure you that you are not the only people being palmed off with lame excuses for a totally inadequate junction, and that contrary to popular belief, some people do care about where they live.

Group meetings are advertised locally and I invite more people to come along and help make a difference, otherwise we as a community may be forgotten about and ignored. 

Rob Spearing
 by email

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT WHAT'S ON IN THE TOWN 

Having heard David Edwards, the Daily Mirror journalist, being interviewed on Mix 96 this morning I was interested to hear how he had previously visited Aylesbury in his younger days, ‘wandered around the Market Square’ and not been able to find anything to do.
He had obviously not discovered the Queens Park Arts Centre/Limelight Theatre.

This cultural oasis, which has been here for 25 years, is not far from the centre of Aylesbury and offers 60 art, craft and leisure workshops a week, including woodcarving, belly dancing, salsa, yoga, painting, needlecrafts, circus skills, guitar lessons, pottery, DJ workshops, felt making and sign language – among others. It also shows the work of local and national artists in its three gallery spaces.

The Limelight Theatre, with a licensed bar at weekends, has a wide and varied programme with fringe theatre – this week the bizarre and surreal Faulty Optic visited with the intriguing and inventive ‘Horsehead’; comedy and music events from world music to blues nights and jazz to old favourites like John Otway to new talent such as Katie Buckhaven.

The Limelight Theatre has been  the testing ground for many big names in the past such as Eddie Izzard, Jo Brand, Sean Hughes, Hattie Hayridge and Jeremy Hardy among others.

So Mr Edwards, even if your comment was said in jest, I hope you enjoyed your visit to Aylesbury today.

Louise Griffiths-Kimber
Aylesbury

Real issues need attention 

Let’s forget the Mirror reporter’s hyperbole on Aylesbury versus Baghdad, and the self-righteous indignation of local dignitaries.

I concur with Messrs King, Heald and Aylett (Letters to the Editor),there are very real issues in our county town that require urgent attention.

I had occasion to visit Aylesbury Old Town very recently and saw first hand some of the problems with which local residents have to cope. Graffiti on buildings and walls, ranging from listed homes and council property to a doctor’s surgery. Assorted drug related dross, glass from broken bottles (I understand that under-age drinking is an issue) and general litter.

Your church has had yet another window vandalised, and I also came across drug dealing during my visit (midday not midnight).

I have been told by residents that late night drunkeness is also an issue, and extended drinking hours can only exacerbate the present situation.

A real welcome for the visitor to the picturesque Old Town!

J Hambly
by e-mail

HOW WE WILL IMPROVE PLAY FACILITIES

In response to Mark Willis’s question on when are other play areas being upgraded I am pleased to be able to say Aylesbury Vale District Council is working with a range of partners to improve play facilities throughout Aylesbury and the Vale.

The Vale Park Play Area is the first in the line of new play facilities opening in and around Aylesbury over the next few weeks.

A range of new play facilities has also opened this week alongside the Walton Court Centre.

They provide separate play areas for children of different ages, a basketball and football kick around area, which have been supported by the National Lottery Living Spaces Fund and developed following a tremendous community effort co-ordinated by AVDC staff and the team at the Healthy Living Centre.

Work is currently taking place on new play facilities for young people with two multi-use games areas being supplied alongside the all weather pitch at Meadowcroft and a new games area being provided at The Coppice.

This is additional to the games area already installed at Elm Green, and the play area at Jonathon Page Play Centre. All of these have involved a lot of consultation with local residents and young people to ensure we put in the right equipment in the right place.

Over the past 12 months the district council has also offered considerable grant aid and other support to many town and parish councils throughout the Vale who have been able to use this as match funding to draw in other grant-giving bodies.

Whilst it is not possible to undertake all play area improvements at once we have been seeking other sources of funding to support our ongoing programme of refurbishment which includes some of the key play areas highlighted by Mr Willis.

We are currently working with the Big Lottery Fund and are pleased to report that in excess of £300,000 of new funding has been secured for children’s play in the Vale from April 2006. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has expressed interest in possibly offering £400,000 funding for the next phase of Vale Park. 

Add to this, funding secured from developer contributions and other grant sources and you can clearly see that the development and maintenance of children’s play areas will continue to be an area of high priority in the Vale.

Cllr David Thompson
Cabinet member for leisure

THE RIGHT CONTRACT IS THE KEY TO RECYCLING

I read in the latest editions of the shiny (recyclable?) magazines we receive about the work of the BCC that we are being exhorted, page after page, to recycle more and more in order to save Buckinghamshire from being buried under landfill.

May I make a couple of points:

The latest list (in District Link, issue 29) of things we cannot recycle, exceeds the list of things we can. I have been carefully washing and saving plastic of all sorts for years, only now to be told that “most yogurt pots, butter and spread tubs” are not acceptable. The list goes on and on.  We are told this is because “we can only collect what the recycling companies we have contracts with will accept”. This is a nonsense. As responsible community leaders, it is up to you to make contracts with the people who recycle what we have to recycle.

We are told that Germany and the Netherlands recycle all their plastic, so there is no reason why we in the UK should be told this is impossible. There is another level to this – that is the national government level. It seems possible to ban hunting and smoking; why is it not possible to ban companies from selling food products in plastics other than the PETE, HDPE or PVC/PV.

If you tell producers that from January 2007 they can only use one of these three types of plastic, the job is done; we can recycle all the plastic we get from food shopping, including the bags.

My other big gripe is paper – how come we can leave out big bags of newspaper, but no envelopes?
What is the problem with envelopes? And cardboard? You, the district and county councils, urge us to recycle more and yet you impose so many restrictions that, like me, many people who try hard to be responsible will feel that their efforts are going to waste and wonder why they bother. Maybe we’ll go back to sticking it all in the wheelie bin and letting you sort it out!

Christine Goodley
Stewkley

VALE PARK'S GETTING A NEW PLAY AREA - WHAT ABOUT US?

I was delighted to see the new children’s play area at Vale Park is  finally nearing completion.

It looks like it will be a very exciting place for the town’s children to play, but when will the play areas at the Alfred Rose Park, Bedgrove Park, Quarrendon, Elm Farm, Southcourt etc etc, get the upgrade that they have needed for so long?

Cllr Mark Willis
Aylesbury Town Council
Mandeville and Elm Farm

MORE PROBLEMS FROM ROYAL MAIL

On behalf of myself, and probably many other Aylesbury residents, may I express thanks to the post office authorities for safeguarding my ‘health and safety’ by denying a few minutes access to their sorting office car park whilst collecting post not delivered to the house.

Would it be asking too much for another couple of favours? 

Namely that the posties make more than one attempt to deliver an oversize item, or that, having knocked or rung the bell, they give you time to get from another part of the house to the front door before they deliver the form that invites you to collect mail from the sorting office which you will no longer be able to enter – except on foot.
C Lowman
Aylesbury

Once again I have been reading in The Bucks Herald about problems people have with the post office. At times it has been closures, last time about parking at the main post office.

In this area we took up in February the problem of the letter box in Whitecross not having an indication as to which day the next collection would be.

This box has a place where once it would have the actual time of the next collection. 

The need to indicate the day of the next collection was taken up with the Royal Mail headquarters in London who explained that Aylesbury had had difficulty in obtaining the necessary plates for the boxes which were without them and eventually promised that the matter would be corrected by June.

I complained again on August 19, referring to their leaflet about keeping their promises. On August 19 they wrote "a full reply will follow once enquiries have been completed. 

On  September 7 another letter from headquarters stated that Kate Thompson, Aylesbury collection and network support manager, had advised that the said pillar box had not been converted to accept day tabs.

As it used to indicate the times of the next collection this is beyond understanding. 

However, Mr Vickers stated that instructions had been put in hand for the work to be completed. 

More than two months have passed since that letter, and the job has still not been done.

This is important for us as we are a long way from the post office and sometimes we have small packages (eg, Calibre tapes) which will not go into the box opening and so occasionally we have waited to hand to the postman emptying the box.

That is why we need to know on which day the box is being emptied.

N A Mann
Station Court
Haddenham