Charge for Godiva, don’t hit taxpayers
THE council has done it again – another ridiculously excessive council tax rise at 4.9 per cent. Let’s consider where the easy savings that could be made. Houses of multiple occupancy and the like should be charged the maximum scale of tax without any rebates, and all the student accommodation charged the maximum appropriate tax. These two moves would surely make enough money for the streets to be cleared of litter, pavements repaired, and leave a lot of money in the pot for other amenities. Why not charge for the Godiva Festival? Once upon a time it was something for all the citizens of Coventry. Currently it is nothing more than a music festival – and please do not tell me it brings a lot of business to the city as I would estimate the majority of out-oftown visitors use the motorways to access the festival via the A45/ A46 and never set foot in the city to spend any money. Likewise if any visitors travel by train the relative location of the station means that they will not enter the city centre to spend their cash in the non-existent first-class stores we keep getting promised. Why not charge say £10 per head? If the attendance figures that are always quoted are true this would bring in a nice little pot of money without the charge being high enough to discourage attendance. As City of Culture, would it not be worth reviving the Coventry Carnival?
Like a lot of your letter writers, both my wife and I are born and bred Coventrians and are totally dismayed by what this council is doing to what was a very dynamic and presentable city that we were proud of. What do we see now? Litter-strewn streets, pavements that are trip hazards, nothing but fast food takeaways, bars and never-ending restaurants that students are unable to afford.
Can I, as a truly committed Coventrian, appeal to the council and the planning committee to consider the long-term implications of what is happening. What is going to happen to all the private lets currently occupied by students when all these tower blocks are occupied? Are we going to have areas of the city that are turned into slums due to the lack of tenants?
Let’s have a city that we can be truly proud of again! Dave Atkin Styvechale
Fear, ignorance and a country lost
SO many lies and so much fear and ignorance about what Brexit meant were spread by both sides at the referendum. This country has seemed lost ever since.
Its sense of common purpose has gone and its slowly losing its marbles. Europe asked us what we wanted but our government can’t tell them, because there is no united view. So there is no negotiating position.
A nation once admired for resolve and certainty is being mocked as a shambles and although many Leavers put that down to the sulking apathy of Remainers, it is really down to a Tory party that is terminally crippled over its view of Britain’s place in the modern world.
So paranoid and weak is Theresa May that she won’t even publish her own government’s analysis, which suggests our economy will be worse off whatever the Brexit deal is. Andy McDonald Tile Hill
The easy solutions won’t win any votes
BIG problems often have easy solutions, requiring only the will to put them into practice.
For instance, the health service. I believe a partial solution to the immediate problem is to legalise euthanasia.
In addition, some years ago I wrote suggesting that single, elderly people living in two- and threebedroomed houses should be persuaded to move to smaller houses or flats using a reduction in housing allowance as the method of ‘persuasion’. This would free up hundreds of thousands of properties for families and at the same time bring down the cost of the properties themselves.
Bed-blocking hospital patients transferred to blocks of flats could more easily be looked after than carers driving from house to house.
The political problem is that any party advocating these measures would almost certainly be voted out of office. What a quandary! Kevin Lynch Westwood Heath
Sincere thanks for fantastic care
I, TOO, have, sadly, waited in a corridor at Walsgrave Hospital before now – but a couple of weeks ago I needed relative minor surgery which involved an overnight stay.
From my admittance to my discharge, I had fantastic attention from everyone in every department concerned. Therefore my sincere thanks to all involved – they know who they are. Keith Friday Mount Nod