Resources are sparse but we need true grit

As a resident of Donnington and, presumably, still a resident of Chichester District Council (to whom I pay a large council tax bill each month), not for the first time, I am appalled and very annoyed at the lack of grit available to local residents.

It is now five days since the snow arrived and the Stockbridge footbridge over the A27 has not been gritted once.

Our road is like a skating rink, no grit, so we didn't dare take the car out.

We have relied on walking into town. But it is now day five and the footbridge is still not gritted.

With a five-year-old it is almost impassable, sheer compacted ice now, and for anyone with a pushchair or wheelchair it would be impossible.

I know resources are stretched but I would have thought that being a major route for a large number of residents, it would have been a priority. I have witnessed quite a few people actually dicing with cars and running across the A27 rather than risk the bridge.

Even more galling is the council has managed to grit the slope at the Avenue De Chartres multi-storey car park, which already has a safe ice-free entry.
How about getting priorities right for local residents for once?

Jennie Horn, Graydon Avenue, Donnington


The only blemish on the pristine cover of snow on my drive these past few days has been the tracks made by the milkman and the bicycle tyre marks left by the 12-year-old girl delivering our newspapers.

In vain I yearned daily for these to be joined by the tell-tale signs of the postman, all to no avail.

Saturday has now arrived and there has been no post for a week.

I am reminded of some years ago, when living in the south-west of Scotland, seeing a memorial on a hillside near to Ballantrae in memory and recognition of a postman's ultimate sacrifice while endeavouring to deliver mail to a remote farmhouse in blizzard conditions.

I don't expect my post to be delivered in such conditions and I certainly wouldn't want anyone to die trying to deliver it.

So many people have made such gallant efforts to maintain as normal as possible a service to others in their chosen capacity, so why does it take a 12-year-old girl to shame the hearth-dwellers at the post office?

Please, if anyone does respond to this letter don't mention heavy bags or health and safety. That really would spoil my new year.

John Moore, Craigweil Manor, Bognor Regis


This small hamlet is badly affected by ice and snow but is immediately adjacent to the A27 trunk road, which is clear.

In spite of the conditions, my wife and I, who are in our mid-70s, have been out in our car twice this week but our refuse has not been collected and we have received no post for four days.

Telephone enquiries to our local Royal Mail office have been ignored (no-one answers the phone) and our local council quotes 'health and safety issues'.

Notwithstanding that, our papers have been delivered daily, as has our neighbours' milk.

Am I alone in thinking private businesses are prepared to make an effort, but public utilities are not?

Michael Baker, Crockerhill, Chichester


Further to my letter to the Observer, which I had also sent to Chichester District Council, about gangs clearing leaves when pavements were covered with ice.

CDC replied to me saying West Sussex County Council was responsible for all gritting and that CDC did not carry any supplies of grit in its depot – and anyway, they were responsible only for litter and leaves on pavements.

I replied this time to the chief executive, John Marsland, notifying him of a neighbouring authority, Brighton and Hove, which had publicly promised to transfer 100 gardeners and street cleaners to pavement-clearing in the event of another serious snow episode.

I received only the standard reply – the chief executive would be out of the office from December 24 to January 4.

I now see from the CDC website it has now decided to put some of its contract workers on gritting the public car parks (administrated by themselves) although gritting is normally the responsibility of WSCC.

Why do we, as the tax-paying public, put up with this sort of nonsense?

I totally agree with Mr Sumner, whose letter was published last week, that one layer of bureaucracy is quite enough, especially in the current climate of tight budgets.
It is time the customer was treated like a customer and not as a vehicle for jobs for life and cosy pensions for the few.

The ordinary council worker, refuse collector, library assistant, street cleaner is among the lowest paid and is often the most loyal.

It is the senior managers who seem to have totally lost touch with their 'customers'. They tell us they are doing us a great favour by increasing our council tax by only a few per cent year-on-year, while their salaries keep rising by way above anyone else's.

They may tell us it is only two or three per cent, but two or three per cent of £60,000 is a lot more than two or three per cent of £16,000.

Mr Sumner is right, this is the time for change and to make it known that we are not going to accept the status quo any longer.

Kate Beach, Sunderland Close, Tangmere


I wish to congratulate and thank the refuse collectors who braved the snow of Wednesday, January 6, to empty my bin in East Lavant at around eight in the morning. Thank you.

Dr P Rivett, East Lavant, Chichester


We would like to thank the refuse collection crew who came early Sunday morning and emptied our bins. This involved collecting the bins from our side paths or back gardens in Northside and other parts of Lavant. Thank you.

P & J Sharrod, Lavant



Ebenezer Scrooge would feel at home in our drab city

I was interested to read the letter from Bill Phillips regarding the Chichester Christmas lights and agree with his condemnation.

We have now had the same lights for many years and feel they are hardly inspiring, even when they are all working.

And the little ones in South and West Street are hardly noticeable.

It seems to me they are all even less appealing now they have been fitted with pure white bulbs than when they had the original yellowish ones.

Having said that, good-quality lights are of course expensive to replace and run, even those for domestic use, and I am appalled the businesses in Chichester care so little about attracting trade they decline to make a donation to the cost.

It seems they are all too eager to garner every single penny into their 'jingling tills' to think about contributing to the Christmas spirit.

If businesses refuse to make voluntary donations, perhaps it should be made compulsory with an addition to the business rates. I haven't counted the shops and other business premises in the main streets of Chichester but if each one had £50 added to their rates each year (and that is only £1 per week), it would probably raise in excess of £5,000.

Alternatively, if every household in the city had just £1 per annum added to the community charge for Christmas decorations, just think what could be achieved.

When one looks at what is achieved in places such as Midhurst, Bognor and Emsworth, it makes Chichester look even more lacking in Christmas spirit.

I was once again incensed when, on the Monday before Christmas, I went into a well-known out-of-town store. I was tempted to ask someone the date as I thought for a moment I must have fallen asleep and missed Christmas because, apart from a few odd decorations being sold off in one aisle, there was not a single trace of Christmas to be seen.

This happens in some other shops as well and it makes me very angry. If they want to start their January sales before Christmas, that is fine, but surely one can still have a sale with festive decorations in place?

Scrooge and Marley would feel very much at home in this city.

Ken Strudwick, Pound Farm Road, Chichester



Now's the time to investigate just how much councillors get

In 1996-97, the final year of the Liberal Democrat administration of West Sussex County Council, the leader of the council and the chairman of the policy and resources committee received between them a total of £14,052 for attendance, special responsibility and travel and subsistence allowances.

I find it staggering therefore the total amount paid to the two Conservative councillors carrying out like duties in 2008-09 amounts to £81,043, or approaching 600 per cent of the 1996-97 figure.

There has been inflation in the intervening period and if the increase in the Retail Price Index is applied to the 1996-97 figure, the corresponding amount for 2008-09 would be only £19,106, an increase of just 36 per cent.

As the 1996-97 chairman of the policy and resources committee, with some understanding of the range and scope of county council services and the duties of councillors, I find it hard to understand what justification there can be for this additional increase over and above inflation of £62,000 per annum.

These costs are particularly significant in West Sussex with its high proportion of pensioners, like myself, among its council tax payers, who have certainly not
seen their pensions increase by anything like these percentages during this period.

The feature of 2009 was the revelation of the bankers' bonuses and MPs' allowances. Perhaps for 2010 we should take a look closer to home at what some of our local, elected representatives are receiving?

Jack Campbell, King Alfred Close, Steyning



Why are all we 'outsiders' being ignored?

I have long suspected Chichester District is run for the benefit of Chichester, and not for the benefit of the district as a whole.

The imposition of parking charges outside Chichester to protect services in Chichester seems to suggest this is correct.

The Observer reported: "Cllr Clare Apel said that as a Chichester resident she could not see what the fuss was about. The council should go ahead with this."

This seems to prove the point.

The policy only penalises people outside Chichester city, therefore she can't see what all the fuss is about, and can't be bothered to find out.

It appears the Liberals in Chichester city are no better than the Conservatives.

Peter O'Connell, Mead Way, Midhurst



Plucky girl has put our posties to shame

The only blemish on the pristine cover of snow on my drive these past few days has been the tracks made by the milkman and the bicycle tyre marks left by the 12-year-old girl delivering our newspapers.

In vain I yearned daily for these to be joined by the tell-tale signs of the postman, all to no avail.

Saturday has now arrived and there has been no post for a week.

The weather forecast is dire for the weekend so doubtless it's going to be a few more days yet before the postman plucks up enough courage and finds the will to do his duty.

I am reminded of some years ago, when living in the south-west of Scotland, seeing a memorial on a hillside near to Ballantrae in memory and recognition of a postman's ultimate sacrifice while endeavouring to deliver mail to a remote farmhouse in blizzard conditions.

I don't expect my post to be delivered in such conditions and I certainly wouldn't want anyone to die trying to deliver it.

So many people have made such gallant efforts to maintain as normal as possible a service to others in their chosen capacity, so why does it take a 12-year-old girl to shame the hearth dwellers at the post office?

Please, if anyone does respond to this letter don't mention heavy bags or health and safety. That really would spoil my new year.

John Moore, Craigweil Manor, Bognor Regis


This small hamlet is badly affected by ice and snow but is immediately adjacent to the A27 trunk road, which is clear.

In spite of the conditions, my wife and I, who are in our mid-70s, have been out in our car twice this week, but our refuse has not been collected and we have received no post for four days.

Telephone enquiries to our local Royal Mail office have been ignored (no-one answers the phone) and our local council quotes 'health and safety issues'.

Notwithstanding that, our papers have been delivered daily, as has our neighbours' milk.

Am I alone in thinking private businesses are prepared to make an effort, but public utilities are not?

Michael Baker, Crockerhill, Chichester


I voice my disgust at the conditions of the roads and pavements in Bognor Regis.

Do the local councils have a duty to keep both in a safe and usable condition or not?

If so, there is little evidence they are doing this.

There are still potholes which require filling and they have been troublesome to motorists since last winter.

That means they have been there for a year now. Why has the council not filled them in?

There are new holes appearing on the local roads and I'm assuming most of those won't be filled in either. Why not?

There is one in Longford Road which is a death trap to an unsuspecting motor cyclist.

Also, where are the gritters? The roads are virtually impassable when it snows and the side roads around Bognor never get gritted.

They were sheet ice for a week before Christmas.

Who is responsible for making sure these roads are made safe and clear for motorists, because they aren't doing their job.

With regard to pavements, whose job is it to keep them useable in bad weather? The pavements around my home were iced up for over a week before Christmas and too dangerous to use.

They are icy today and not safe to walk on – people are having to walk on the road with traffic.

During bad weather the councils are absent. I don't see anyone out clearing roads, pavements or fixing pot holes. Where are they all? On a fact-finding or twinning tour of Sri Lanka? They might as well be, for the good they are doing here.

The councils are greedy for money and forceful if there's a glitch in your payments to them.

Try paying your local council tax a few days late and see what I mean. Within days you will get a demand, threat and a summons to court with costs.

I'd like to know why we aren't all rushing to do the same to them when they are clearly failing in their duty to perform simple services like keeping roads and pavements in a safe and useable condition?

L Chapman, Havelock Road, Bognor Regis


Further to my letter to the Observer, which I had also sent to Chichester District Council, about gangs clearing leaves when pavements were covered with ice.

CDC replied to me saying West Sussex County Council was responsible for all gritting and that CDC did not carry any supplies of grit in its depot – and anyway, it was responsible only for litter and leaves on pavements.

I replied this time to the chief executive, John Marsland, notifying him of a neighbouring authority, Brighton and Hove, which had publicly promised to transfer 100 gardeners and street cleaners to pavement clearing in the event of another serious snow episode.

I received only the standard reply the chief executive would be out of the office from December 24 to January 4.

I now see from the CDC website it has now decided to put some of its contract workers on gritting the public car parks (administrated by themselves) although gritting is normally the responsibility of WSCC.

Why do we, as the tax paying public, put up with this sort of nonsense?

I totally agree with Mr Sumner, whose letter was published last week, that one layer of bureaucracy is quite enough, especially in the current climate of tight budgets.
It is time the customer was treated like a customer and not as a vehicle for jobs for life and cosy pensions for the few.

The ordinary council worker, refuse collector, library assistant, street cleaner is among the lowest paid and is often the most loyal.

It is the senior managers who seem to have totally lost touch with their 'customers'. They tell us they are doing us a great favour by increasing our council tax by only a few per cent year on year, while their salaries keep rising by way above anyone else's.

They may tell us it is only two or three per cent, but two or three per cent of £60,000 is a lot more than two or three per cent of £16,000.

Mr Sumner is right, this is the time for change and to make it known that we are not going to accept the status quo any longer.

Kate Beach,Sunderland Close, Tangmere


I wish to congratulate and thank the refuse collectors who braved the snow of Wednesday, January 6, to empty my bin in East Lavant at around eight in the morning. Thank you.

Dr P Rivett, East Lavant, Chichester


We would like to thank the refuse collection crew who came early Sunday morning and emptied our bins. This involved collecting the bins from our side paths or back gardens in Northside and other parts of Lavant. Thank you.

P & J Sharrod, Lavant



I can't believe council has crumbled over relief road

I was staggered by the decision of Arun council to allow the developers to postpone indefinitely the building of the Bognor relief road.

This was one of the key issues that was, and still is, of major concern to the local people, and its inclusion was a key factor in getting planning permission for the development of Site 6 in the first place.

Over the past ten years or so we have seen our council taxes rise at double the inflation rate and senior staff council salaries rocket out of control.

All of this was to encourage a more professional approach by council leaders.

And the results are the same as they were before these vast salary increases – at the first hurdle, the council rolls over.

It has been said before if you need something done in this town, get on to Tesco or Butlins. These groups seem to get their way because these companies work for the benefit of their shareholders. I would like to see our council work for us, the people or shareholders, in the same way.

It is clear that despite the very high salaries paid to senior council staff we still have the old order in charge – civil servants with no commercial experience.

It is about time these people started to think of us, the local people, as shareholders and act on our behalf – after all, we pick up all the bills.

If you read the policy statement of Arun council it is full of the phrase 'duty of care'. I wonder who to?

Alan Ambridge, West Meads



Alvin adds a touch of stardust to the lights

May I say a big thank-you to all those who helped in Petworth with putting up and taking down our Christmas lights and tree?

Rod Tyler once again kept us all in order and was ably helped by electrician Roger Mordle. Jean Huggett got all the orders placed for things we needed and thanks, too, to other members of the community which included the Petworth Business Association and the town council as well of some who lived within the town and just wanted to help.

I thank them all most sincerely because without them there would be no Christmas lights and celebration evening in Petworth.

May I also thank those businesses in the town who allowed us to use their electricity for the period of the lights being on.

Most agree, some may not, but the charm of the Petworth lights is their slightly old-fashioned feel, not much in the way of set pieces, and people have turned up from as far as Horsham, Chichester and beyond, plus all the local villages, to see our lights and especially enjoy our first Saturday in December event.

It takes about four Sunday mornings before the switch-on date to get everything up and in order and I can't tell you how many light bulbs we painstakingly replaced in the town council office – it seemed to go on forever.

We acquired storage boxes and keep each street separate so with the invaluable help of Richard Chandler, who not only stores the boxes for us but helps with his cherry picker-type machine to put lights up and take them down, we have got more organised. Richard gives up many hours of his time and machine time.

The Leconfield estate once again provided us with what this year seemed an even bigger and better tree which Fiona and Ann decorated around the tree barriers, and this is no five-minute task.

The local businesses this year excelled themselves with their window decorations for the town council competition, won by John Bird Antiques.

The chairman of the district council was hard-pressed because such efforts had been made and some of the Petworth windows (dare I mention Guilt) are becoming famous far and wide – forget Selfridges, just see their moving window display.

One antique store even had reindeer and in another, Wee Willie Winkie had come to town – it very much looked like it, anyway, with Ron Chambers in nightgown and cap plus a candle in holder. There were so many others I can't name them all.

Petworth Town Band – would anything be complete in Petworth without them? St Mary's Church choir. Thank you all for what you do – and this year Alvin Stardust switched the lights on for us.

Mr Burnett and his fairground items, and all the stalls we had inside and out, including the usual Father Christmas grotto the Scouts always organise. It was great and the rain didn't stop us.

The ladies and gents who provided the endless mulled wine and mince pies – the list goes on.

We no longer get the £500 financial help from the district council so we are going to have to look at ways we can keep the cost down.

But rest assured we will and with the willing volunteers, which includes the many well-known personalities who over the years have helped us to switch the lights on, continue to provide a merry and happy start to the Christmas period.

Janet Duncton, chairman of the Christmas Lights Committee, Petworth Town Council



To the point

We are told British holidaymakers returned home with £1.78bn of unspent foreign currency in 2009.

If any reader is among the 71 per cent who have taken trips abroad and come back with foreign money (Santander Cards found that the average amount brought back was £61) maybe they would consider donating these coins and notes to help fund the cure for leukaemia and allied blood cancers.

Donations can be taken or sent to Cluttons Tod Miller, 14 West Pallant, Chichester PO19 1TB or NatWest Bank at 5 East Street, Chichester, for the Leukaemia Research Fund to convert into cash for patient support, to buy medical equipment and further our research programmes.

We also accept coins and notes from countries which have gone over to the euro and pre-decimal GB 5p, 10p and 50p coins.

We would like to thank all the kind people who have sent us donations during the past year, which has raised over £9,000.

Sophie Shalit, Chairman, Leukaemia Research Fund, Chichester and district branch


A new temperature measurement system designed primarily for older (Daily Mail readers) people has been announced called Fentigrade.

In the summer when the days are hot, the temperature will be referred to as 80s Fentigrade. There will no longer be any need to ask 'what's that in old money' when the BBC show the temperature as 26.

In the winter, however, when it's cold and the temperature is less than zero, the temperature will be 'minus six Fentigrade' for instance.

Hopefully this will avoid any further confusion.

David Ayling, Cambrai Avenue, Chichester


The financing of the new museum and of Careline are entirely separate.

One has to pay a monthly charge (based on one's income) for Careline help, whereas funds for a new museum will come out our council taxes and from other public bodies.

So laying off 16 people from Careline (which, incidentally, is to do with reorganisation) would not make any difference to the financing of the museum.

Mrs A Bromley-Martin, Tuffs Hard, Bosham Hoe


The Christmas season is a time to remember those we love and to show goodwill to others.

Such goodwill came to me on December 14, when two lovely people, a lady and her husband, arrived at my home in the evening to return my handbag which they had found, with all its contents perfectly intact. I was not even aware it was missing.

Such unbelievable kindness knew no bounds and it made one profoundly grateful and the happiest lady by far this Christmas.

May the new year bring every blessing to those two wonderful people.

Mary Bonner, Craigweil Manor, Aldwick


I'd like to celebrate a good deed. On the Thursday before Christmas, the day the snow came, I got off the train at Haslemere, walked up Weydown Road to pick up my car, and found the doors wouldn't open. It was 11pm and snowing.

The RAC was busy, busy. I stood in the cold wind by the roadside as the snow sifted down until 11.30pm. Then a passing car stopped and someone offered me a bed for the night.

I was so cold, so relieved and shook uncontrollably all night (what was left of it) but was fine in the morning. (The RAC man had arrived at 1.45 to deal with the locks.The snow was by now quite thick).

Then these extraordinarily kind people followed me all the way home to make sure I was all right in the ice and snow. How lucky I was, and how grateful I am. There are still good Samaritans who do not pass by.

Bronnie Cunningham, River Common, Petworth


A cry from east Chichester to Fred, our 'Rise 'n Shine' milkman who retired last year: Thank you again, happy new year – we miss you SO much.

If anyone who knows Fred reads this, please pass it on in case he doesn't.

Sue Organ, Oving Road, Chichester


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