NOT A HOPE
Never in a million years will Derby
councillors consider anything akin to beautiful
to be constructed, or built, in the city. All
constructions must be squared, and severe. No
pleasing curves or rounded edges will be
tolerated, and the buildings must only be used
for offices, bars, clubs, discos and drinking
dens.
No sign of flowing water is allowed to be seen by
the population or tourists. The Derwent
riverbanks must be hidden from view with huge
edifices such as the Crown Courts, office blocks
and gaming houses, cinemas, bars, and nightclubs.
And the result is to be called
"Riverlights" ... how cruel. Ivy
Ryalls |
FREE SPEECH
This country use to be the mother of democracy,
where free speech was upheld as the right of us
all. Now that freedom is being restricted to what
this government and its 'state-run' radio and
television wants us all to think and say. Robert
Kilroy-Silk is saying what the majority of the
people in this country are thinking but he has
been gagged and threatened with prison.
What sort of mess have we got ourselves into? Our
right to say what we feel has now come to an end.
Are we now to just take in the state propaganda
and not question it? I would like to think that
Robert Kilroy-Silk will stick to his guns and
carry on speaking his mind. But I fear Big
Brother will well and truely shut him up.
Keith John Furnival |
NOT
SAFE
When is something going to be done about
the system for pedestrians around the Albion
Street/East Street area? We go to Derby every
Thursday and walk from the rear of the Eagle
Centre, up East Street and on to Birds' cake
shop.
Taking this walk, one has to have eyes in one's
backside to avoid being run over. The rear of
Marks and Spencer's alley is a death trap and I
am surprised that no-one has been flattened by
the juggernauts emerging. Derby planners are full
of schemes at our expense but I have yet to see
one that is of any use. Mrs
Pendlebury |
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PUBLIC OPINION
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ROADS
It is nonsense for the authorities and the
police to say that their main concern is for road safety.
They seem to grab as much money as possible in fines and
spend as little as they can on road improvements. An
example is the long-awaited attempt to sort out the A38
traffic at Little Eaton. This area cried out for a
flyover. The land is there but, of course, they would
never spend the money. The same is true for Sir Frank
Whittle Road.
The work at Little Eaton was carried out on the cheap.
Roads and lanes needed to be widened for some distance
before the island. They were not. Road markings on the
island leave much to be desired. Derby's ring road is a
joke, there are so many delays. The roads around the
Pentagon Island are Kamikaze situations. There is no
control over road works. John
R. Noland
PUBLIC
OUTCRY
Isn't it about time that city councillors
realised that they run the city on behalf of the people
of Derby? They should be listening to the public outcry
about Quad and Riverlights. The bus station needs a
facelift but we don't need the Riverlights complex. There
is more than enough empty office space in Derby already,
Roman House and the office complex in St Peter's
Churchyard to name but two examples. This is without even
considering the impact of the extra manpower the police
will require.
The council examined 17 sites before deciding to concrete
over the memorial gardens. Which sites did they
investigate? What criteria did they use during the
selection process? And how did they come to the
conclusion that the destruction of the gardens was in the
best interests of the citizens of Derby. Maurice Burgess
is playing games with us again, like he did with the
Florentine Boar and moving the cenotaph.
They are launched as "discussion items" and, if
there is too much opposition, good old Maurice rides to
the rescue and the ideas are squashed, portraying him as
the hero. Let us pray that he will do the same for the
Quad centre. If Labour wants to regain control, they need
only one policy in their manifesto, "We will not
destroy the memorial garden to bring Quad to Derby."
Victory would be assured. Andrew J Wyrobek
SELL-OFF SCANDAL
The city council seems to be continually wending
its way towards the total destruction of any services
which are used by the public of this city. The latest
plan to "sell off" the leisure centres to a
trust is not only misguided but is little short of
scandalous.
The case of Queen's Leisure Centre is typical. How short
a memory do these faceless bureaucrats think the public
of the city have? It's only a few years since £6-7m of
public money was spent on refurbishment of this centre.
What right have these people to misappropriate our money
in this fashion?
It doesn't require the services of an expensive
consultant again needing lots and lots of public money to
explain the reason for the decline in numbers using the
centre. It is because of the greed of the same city
council with its exorbitant parking charges, which are
not only causing a decline in leisure but also
contributing to the loss of trade overall by all sections
of the community.
When will the Derby City Council and realise that certain
buildings and services are not only close to the public's
heart but are essential to the smooth running of the
city? We must retain, repair and look after the heritage
of our city before it has gone forever. Tony
Dunn
IS THE CITY A TOURISM HOTSPOT?
Deirdrie Livingstone, from the VisitBritain
organisation, is spending £4m on encouraging European
visitors on short breaks to come to our city. She calls
Derby a "hot tourist spot" and a
"must-see" tourist destination. The only
mention of what there is to see is our industrial museum
in Silk Mill Lane. I wonder why? I have spent many happy
hours in the museum and it is certainly worth visiting,
but I only have to travel from Alvaston. Apparently, our
city fathers have chosen to encourage these visitations
and our city will feature in press advertising and
roadshows.
So where do they go and what do they visit after their
tour of the museum? We could take them down Deadman's
Lane and show them where the dead from Bonnie Prince
Charlie's army and the Plague victims are buried, but it
would take some imagination. Where could I take foreign
visitors in Derby so that, when they went back home, they
would want to come back and make the £4m well spent?
Please would the city fathers tell us where they are
going to take them?
I have received from Derby's tourist office a nice letter
and literature on where to take foreign visitors who
visit Derby. Apart from the Industrial Museum, we have
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Pickfords House, ghost
walks, Pride Park, Derby Crown china and, most of all,
Derby's well-known and very extensive pub and club crawl.
I note that council leader Maurice Burgess is asking the
public to let Derby City Council know, via their e-mail
address, how they can improve and develop the city and
improve services.
Councillor Burgess is quoted as saying that he wants to
hear from anyone who has an idea about developing the
city and council services for the future, and further
states: "It's very often the people who are on the
receiving end who have the best suggestions and ideas
will certainly be taken into consideration". It's an
admirable initiative but doomed to failure owing to no
existing route of communication between him and his
planning committee and planning officers.
This was evidenced by the granting of the application for
the Riverlights scheme which is in direct contradiction
to the wishes of the majority of the people of Derby. The
people have voiced their objections in this county's
newspapers and most of the surrounding counties'
newspapers. Once again we are witnessing the council's
incompetence and its arrogant bulldozing aside of
people's wishes. Frank Leeming
DERBY IS IN DEMISE
Planners are changing the city beyond
recognition. Some of the decisions they are making should
be left to residents, who deserve to be able to stop the
total destruction. The many errors of judgment include
the Cockpit Island car park, which looks like a prison,
and the fountain, which is not something to be proud of.
As for St Helen's House, we knew years ago that it needed
money spending on it, so why has it been ignored? It
would make a great arts centre.
But instead, we get some modern monstrosity obstructing
an open space which will end up being demolished in a
short time. Is that really the cheaper option? The Quad
building will also obscure the Registration Office. And
the bus station, what on earth are they thinking? The
present one is important to our history but needs sorting
out.
It should be kept as a taxi rank area and drop off and
pick-up point, with shuttle buses to the train station
and maybe to another bigger bus station elsewhere. The
riverside area should be developed with outdoor cafes and
interesting places to meet people. Things need spreading
out throughout the town, as they all seem to be crammed
together.
All our unique, one-off shops have gone, and some of the
bigger national ones, because of a lack of passing trade
and the obsession of making Derby the drinking capital of
the Midlands. Why don't the authorities take a look at
other successful places like Nottingham, York and
Birmingham? I have visited Plymouth quite a few times and
it is a lovely, very- well-planned city. There are lots
of interesting shops and places to relax, and many open
spaces. They have preserved as much of their history as
possible, and much of it was flattened in the war. Anon
RED HERRING
Am I alone in feeling cheated by the so-called
consultation on Five Lamps, phase 3b of Connecting Derby?
It seems to me to be cynical and condescending to the nth
degree to ask people what they think, then reject their
opinion saying they don't fully understand the situation.
It is my contention that Derby City Council's proposals
are unrealistic and ill-thought- out.
In fact, I have seen two other suggestions for Five Lamps
put forward by members of public and both of these are
far better and cheaper than either of the options
promoted by the council's many traffic engineers. I have
my own cynical view on this and it is that Derby City
Council always wanted option one and only put option two
forward as a red herring, as they when suggesting the
demolition of the listed Seven Stars pub. L.
During
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