Cotswold News, Moreton-in-Marsh News, Stow-on-the Wold News

walking from the Post Office towards LloydsTSB bank yesterday, along the pavement, outside the Pretty Raj Indian restaurant, I espied a new inspection/junction box cover. The lovely paving stones had been ripped up to enable a new cable, I should think, to be laid there to a point back towards the Post Office. Right down the middle of the pavement! What’s wrong with that, you may ask? Well, instead of relaying the paving stones, which had been painstakingly laid by an earlier council, at goodness knows what cost to us council taxpayers, the telecom company had poured in black asphalt, which now lies like a black snake all along the middle of said stretch of paving. An absolute eyesore that drew my attention to it by its awfulness! After that, I noticed many more of these money-saving, quick-fix repairs after work had been carried out, round all sorts of companies’ covers. Workman Bridge in particular. Some bigger and uglier than others.

A shortcoming of grants to arts

12:21pm Thursday 11th March 2010

May I, through your pages, express my disappointment at the decision of Evesham Town Council not to provide any funding for the Arts Festival this year.

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Stop this ‘infernal noise’

12:14pm Thursday 11th March 2010

RE Mr Michael T Parker’s polemic last week in favour of local windfarms (which way the wind blows). This must be making him even more popular with his friends and neighbours down there in sleepy Sedgeberrow.

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Short on ideas and policy

11:03am Thursday 4th March 2010

I am a volunteer advisor at Wychavon CAB and attended the Wychavon District Council meeting last Tuesday, February 23 at which the council passed a budget cutting £30,000 from our funding. This decision means that this CAB is likely to cease functioning as from May 2011 (a fact known to the council before this meeting), leaving local people without access to specialist benefit, employment, housing and debt advice as well as the other information we provide. The Council failed to answer two questions (correctly tabled) asking what measures they would take to replace the services presently offered by the CAB. I can only think this failure was because they knew that to provide even only two full-time members of staff required to deal with benefits alone, will cost them more than £30,000, let alone any staff needed for debt or housing advice!

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Which way the wind blows...

11:04am Thursday 4th March 2010

We now know from your article on February 18 that the “Advertising Standards Authority” (ASA) recently ruled that some of the claims about wind turbines made by the “Vale Villagers against Scottish Power” (VVASP) cannot be substantiated. This came as no surprise to anyone who knows anything about wind power.

She knows best!

11:05am Thursday 4th March 2010

The fourth Sunday in Lent is not Mother’s Day but Mothering Sunday. Traditionally, this was the day when girls in domestic service, often some way from home, were allowed time off to visit their homes. On the walk they picked wild flowers to present to their mothers. Somewhat different from the commercialism of today!

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Production error

11:05am Thursday 4th March 2010

The BBC widely-announced cut-backs, appear to have already started!

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Plane thinking

11:06am Thursday 4th March 2010

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported the saving of the London Plane Tree that stands outside our offices. A worthy cause and the right decision by Derek Prodger of the County Council. A big thank you to all who came forward to support the campaign. It's good to know that the man in the street has a voice and that sometimes the powers that be do listen.

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It’s real honour

11:07am Thursday 4th March 2010

I would like to take the opportunity through your columns, to thank everyone who voted for me at the Evesham Town Council election last Thursday. I very much appreciate all the support given to me especially in such inclement weather conditions and I wish to assure the people of Evesham that I will do my utmost to represent them at future meetings of the Town Council. I feel truly honoured and look forward to the future.

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Designs on our transport system

10:23am Thursday 25th February 2010

As well as worrying about the demise of the Evesham Tree, those planning wizards at Wychavon should concern themselves about the health of drivers emerging left onto the High Street from Queen’s Road. Narrowing the road width will not “calm the traffic” when the tight exit radius means you have to go onto the opposite side of the road to get out. Do these people ever drive a car or is our town and city road design now done by computer simulations designed to promote the use of cars smaller than 10 feet in length? Putting signs up will not stop delivery vehicles and the constant stream of lost foreign articulated trucks entering High Street. What a complete waste of money this development is turning out to be. I imagine in six months time, after the first fatality, it will all be re-engineered at another cost of £600,000 to Wychavon ratepayers.