The way forward is NOT more roads and more cars . . .
AS reported in the Stockport Express, the airport relief road has been beset by a number of setbacks and problems, not least the main contractor going into liquidation.
None the less, we can be fairly certain that these difficulties will all, in turn, be ironed out and the project completed, albeit a little late.
What remains less certain is whether we are doing the right thing in the first place and if building the second section out to Portwood is as logical as some would have us believe.
I think any further promotion of car usage is complete folly.
We could talk about many drawbacks concerning the overuse of cars, but let us stick to climate change.
Climate change is the game changer.
Outside my window right now, the snow lies thick on the ground and so the idea of our planet heating up sounds rather absurd.
Yet even as I write by the fireside, trying to keep warm, the people of Johannesburg are waiting for their taps to run dry.
They have been expecting it for weeks.
In the Arctic, because of global warming, for the first time in winter months, merchant ships have been able to navigate their Summertime shipping lanes.
Whilst this might be good for reducing transportation costs and even for tourism, it is all a bit disconcerting.
Still, by next Winter who would bet against cruise liners plying the Arctic routes, with passengers paying an arm and a leg to gawp at polar bears strutting around in sun glasses and penguins wearing knotted handkerchiefs on their heads, stretched out on deck chairs checking their emails. But I should not joke. Heat records around the world are now routinely broken.
You know the rest, bigger storms, rising seas, drought and so on.
Don’t be taken in by politicians who tell you that the only way forward is with cars and evermore roads.
We should, by now, all know better than that.
What then can we do about it? Local elections are coming up soon.
Withhold your vote from anyone who peddles a world which has no future and leave your car at home whenever you can.
Together we can make the vital difference.
Together we can set the example for other towns and cities to follow. John Tyers Marple
LABOUR ON CRIME BEAT
THE surveying undertaken by Councillor Lisa Smart highlights an issue of concern to many residents.
It is important however to note the levels of crime identified are not reflective of statistics available through the Office for National Statistics and British Crime Survey.
What these statistics do show is that crime incidence has increased in recent years.
The question is, what do we do about this?
Greater Manchester Police and Combined Authority are taking a number of measures to address the situation.
These include more funding for police recruitment, maintaining the PCSO levels and extra staff and training to improve the 101 service.
There are also preventive initiatives taking place at Greater Manchester and council levels, from efforts to reduce homelessness to the Safer Stockport Partnership’s work to prevent anti-social behaviour through the Youth Offending Service.
The funding for these efforts comes partly through the mayoral precepts, partly from council tax and partly from government.
The Greater Manchester police and crime precept this year has asked for an additional £12 rise (for an average band D property) to help fund some of the above.
Whereas this was a difficult decision, it was also the right thing to do to fill the gap caused by the government’s reducing resources in the area.
These come as part of austerity policies which have led to a reduction in police numbers of around 20,000 nationwide.
Austerity policy, let us not forget, was partly engineered and voted for by Liberal Democrats while in government.
Among them was the current Stockport Liberal Democrat group leader, who voted for and enforced votes for such cuts in parliament.
So, while surveying of the results of their own policies makes for interesting headlines, it appears to be Labour representatives who are looking to deal with the consequences. Laura Clinghan Labour local election candidate for Bredbury Green and Romiley