Town hall chief has a nerve over potholes
I AM responding to the article where the council leader Richard Leese has told motorists whose cars are damaged by potholes that they should drive more carefully (‘Drive more carefully over road potholes,’ M.E.N. June 8).
He has a nerve to suggest people should watch how they drive. It’s his council which is incompetent in not getting the work done quickly enough. Rather than having to wait up to several months, other councils are getting on with it.
When you are driving your constantly looking for pot holes and swerving to avoid them.
I have reported many on major roads into the city. You also have to worry about cyclists and motorbike riders. A cyclist in Bury died in 2016 after hitting a pothole and the coroner criticised Bury council.
These councillors seem to treat residents with contempt. True Labour, not a Corbynite!
Roads are improving
RESPONDING to the concerns of Ms J Stamper and many other Manchester residents about potholes (Still lots of potholes, Viewpoints, June 7), we are investing in a five-year Highways Improvement Programme, which will ensure that the condition of our roads gets better and stays better for many years to come.
Hundreds of roads have already been resurfaced, but we are still in the early stages of the programme and there is much more work to do.
The condition of all of the city’s roads has been assessed and roads in every ward of the city are included in the scheme. I can confirm that work to fix potholes is planned for Kingsway in the near future.
I would encourage any resident who has concerns about a pothole in their area to report it to us, at www.manchester.gov.uk, so that our inspectors can assess the road and arrange for any necessary repairs to be carried out. Coun Angeliki Stogia, executive member for the environment, planning and transport, Manchester city council
More CCTV on canals
MY sincere condolences to the families of the two young men who recently lost their lives after drowning in the city centre canal.
Of course it would be impracticable to fence off every canal, but I do feel there should be more CCTV cameras in the area so that there could be an immediate response in the event of someone accidentally falling into the water.
Would it be possible to run a late night patrol boat along stretches of canal where most accidents are likely to happen?
Also, the late night bars have a duty to prevent these young men from drinking too much and reduce the risk of incidents like this happening. Mohammed Ismail, Bolton
Are Greens that popular?
I READ with interest the comments from Nigel Woodcock, the Green party candidate for Chorlton, in Viewpoints (June 5) singing the praises of the Green party and how popular they are.
Mr Woodcock finished in fourth place in Chorlton’s local election with only 731 votes, while John Hacking, of Labour, finished in first place with an impressive score of 3,175. I’d hardly conclude that as a success - but, there’s more.
The BBC confirmed that The Greens saw their UK-wide vote share fall from 3.8 pert cent to 1.6pc in last year’s General Election – although the party held onto its sole Parliamentary seat in Brighton Pavilion. Jonathan Bartley, the parties co- leader with Caroline Lucas said the result hurt.
Surprisingly, Mr Woodcock goes on to claim that the Green Party have 179 councillors.
I checked this on the party’s own website and they admit that only 39 are actually ’elected’ councillors.
Finally, he says it’s ‘kindest’ to ignore climate change denial. Who would deny something that’s happened naturally for four-and-ahalf billion years? Not many. D Bagnall, Manchester