Where I shop is based on what I can afford
I CAN be sympathetic to Councillor Cooper’s views on supermarket planning applications but he has little insight into those of us who are struggling. It is personal choice as to which local shops or supermarkets you patronise.
I am on less than the full pension but am not reduced to claiming Pension Credit yet. Others on Universal Credit are in a worse position than me.
Getting colder? Can’t afford to up the thermostat? Just put on more woollies bought from charity shops. See I do like to support those less fortunate than me!
Believe it or not, I do like to eat well but I have to be very selective as to where I buy my food. It would give me great pleasure to get my meals from local takeaways or cafes but that’s a nonstarter!
I buy near to out of date food and make stews etc that I can then freeze in batches.
I can no longer run a car so it is up to me to get my shopping home. I get a supermarket delivery every two months or so with heavier items at £1 a time. Probably cheaper than fetching it by car.
The rest of my shopping I do at the likes of Lidl or Aldi and bring it home by bus. Thank heavens for the bus pass! If I had no choice but the major supermarkets I don’t think I would eat as well as I do. I can see why they fear the foreign cheaper alternatives, but some of us need them to survive.
I have the prospect of having a Lidl and Aldi within a few hundred yards and welcome this as it means I can eat better for less.
Clr Cooper, I love your ethics but please apply it to your struggling electorate! We want to survive and enjoy it.
We are becoming a satellite town
AS ever, the Kirklees politburo carries on in its own inimitable way, devoid of anything that suggests sustainability, or worth to the majority of council taxpayers.
Housing projects suggest further downgrading of a once proud town to the status of a commuter satellite town for Leeds, Manchester, and even further afield. It is notable that the major residential developments such as Lindley and Birkby are close to the M62.
For some years house builders have marketed their wares beyond Kirklees, which tells its own story. That so much of the housing is deemed “luxury”and multi-bedroomed hardly recognises contradictions with the real world. The Labour Party’s much-highlighted low wages, poor employment protection, and multi-job employment situation is somehow forgotten at local level.
Evidence about the real state of play is highlighted by the small matter of Help to Buy schemes and family mortgages where someone else, be it taxpayer, or older relatives, cough up to underwrite house purchasing by younger family members.
Then there’s all the other bright ideas, including the latest to make Huddersfield town centre “inviting”. As with the other multi-million pound schemes that planners and highly-paid consultants create, they are totally dependent on disposable income and debt, be it individuals maxing out their credit card, or university students eating into their loans.
What next from our esteemed local administration – beyond probably another round of changing job titles of the usual suspects.
What next? Skate park for pensioners?
THE first plan towards the regeneration of Huddersfield town centre will take in New Street, Cloth Hall Street and the Market Place.
The Council, under Peter McBride aims to make the streets PLAYFUL and CREATIVE. Wow! That should be fun. I can see it now,
Pensioners playing five-a-side football along New Street with a skate park for motorised wheelchair users, free tins of spray paint for a bit of do it yourself graffiti art. Heaven help the older people with disability badges. Where are they going to Park?
Still, it will be wonderful, lots of space for afternoon drinks – well perhaps even morning drinks for the local drunkards. Al fresco dining? That’ll go down well in January and better still in summer during the rain storms. Soggy beefburgers anyone?