Disgrace that last pub in our part of city is to close
IT’S a disgrace that the only pub in Trowbridge is closing.
Over the years this pub has done a lot for the Trowbridge pensioners with Christmas parties, darts, football, etc.
This pub is very important to many people in Trowbridge.
I knew loads of people who used this pub but who have sadly died.
But their sons and daughters have carried on using this pub.
Now they want to call time on the pub.
The people who use it are in limbo.
Disabled people use the Newbridge.
I urge the the management to think again. Think of the people who have enjoyment at their local, the Newbridge.
Steve Carroll Trowbridge, Cardiff
Parking problems a real worry here
A RECENT report in the South Wales Echo told of parking problems in Cathays but seemed to touch very lightly on the subject, which is a pity.
The reporter tells us of students in shared housing, rather than Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).
Maybe Houses of Mass Occupation might be more appropriate for some, as successive councils have allowed property speculators to turn these typically twoand three-bed family homes into premises for six and more adults, all of whom can bring cars with them.
This report concentrated on Pentyrch Street whereas this is the same in every street in Cathays as well as Roath.
From the time that Cardiff council was run by the Liberal Democrats and more recently under Labour control, our local councillors were still blaming commuters for the parking problems.
In this report, someone is quoted as saying the council encourages students as they make millions from them.
Tell that to those of us who have asked the council if they get compensation for the millions lost in rates, or as we suspect the ratepayers of this city are having to make up those losses, while the landlords and agencies are making a fortune.
Despite years of being told Cardiff council has a policy that no more houses can be converted in a street once saturation point is reached, this, along with other rules that we are told exist, are just ignored by the speculator, and the council and Welsh Government just let it go.
A little while ago I listened to a recording of a speculator seeking planning permission to convert a house into a six-bedroom HMO. His whole sales pitch was that he was providing spaces for six pushbikes.
He spent his time explaining where each cycle space was going to be placed, obviously massaging those listeners’ egos. But there was no mention that the occupants should not be able to apply for parking permits.
On a number of occasions we have found students’ and parents’ messages asking if anybody in student accommodation has a spare permit that they can buy.
Recently we read a message from a local resident saying they had reported cars that had no permits on them, and was told these might have digital permits.
I would not be surprised to find that this is a device to prevent people
I urge the the management to think again. Think of the people who have enjoyment at their local, the Newbridge
Steve Carroll Trowbridge, Cardiff
complaining and therefore improve the statistics.
As for the pretence of a solution offered by our councillors, nobody is going to believe this will be of any help as there are no more spaces than now, in fact they have taken away a lot of spaces.
If you end up parking streets away and your car is damaged as many do get damaged, I wonder what the insurance people will say when you try to explain that you hadn’t checked on it for a few days or maybe a week.
It seems fair enough if two parking permits are issued to houses where rates are paid but two permits to HMOs cannot be right as terraced houses generally have enough space on the road for one car.
Maybe a solution could then be found for medical students who work some long hours.
Maybe the university should provide long-term secure parking – after all they seem to be able to build what they like where they like.
Francis Spragg
Cathays, Cardiff
Human rights must apply across board
I FULLY support the sentiments of Paul Botto on abortion (Echo letters, July 13) headed “Time to reassess UK abortion law”.
Do readers know that the upper limit for abortion in the UK he speaks about is 24 weeks, no doubt the existence of a real human being at that stage, but our abortion law allows abortion up to birth should the child be disabled?
So much for our admiration of disabled wheelchair Wimbledon tennis players and so much for our Paralympians here and across the globe.
Human rights must apply right across our human existence, we don’t suddenly become human at this stage or that stage of life, unborn or born.
At sporting events across the UK
OF THE DAY
we without exception hear the words “no room for discrimination any time, anywhere”.
CM Daly
Roath, Cardiff
Support grants without racial angle
I am amazed that in the context of a looming global food crisis our First Minister has said that he has “to justify to Bangladeshi taxi drivers in Riverside, where I live, why they should pay their taxes in order to support farmers in Wales”.
I am very sure that taxi drivers of Bangladeshi heritage are very much aware of the 1943 famine in Bengal during which three million of their countrymen died.
We as a nation survived World
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War II because our farmers used every scrap of land to grow crops or graze livestock.
I am very sure that taxi drivers of any nationality would support initiatives to produce more food, not more trees.
However, it is worrying that the First Minister does not seem to regard those of Bangladeshi heritage as Welsh or British citizens. If they are born or naturalised in this country, they are no longer Bangladeshi. It is unclear why the minister has thrown in a racial angle to the farming question. Subsidies for farmers to grow food to ward off shortages has nothing to do with taxi drivers, of whatever racial heritage. The minister should be supporting grants for food production, not for firewood.