Popular

RICHARD Nightingale is a progressive local man who has put forward by far the best scheme for the Tropicana.

It has proved highly popular with the town’s population and hopefully the council will get behind it and in the not too distance future and it can be given the go ahead. Weston is now firmly on the map with its magnificent Grand Pier, if Richard Nightingale’s most popular scheme can be made to happen without too much of a delay Weston will be shaping into an outstanding resort.

P HOBBS

Canberra Road, Weston

Can it be true?

IN A recent edition of the Mercury there was a report that one in four visits to Weston General Hospital were a waste of their time.

Obviously it would be wrong to go with a common cold or splinter in a finger but can it be true that 25 per cent of us are just plain stupid?

The question “is our journey really necessary?” is very difficult to answer because there are no guidelines as to how we make the decision.

Most of us are not medical boffins so we either ignore ailments or take the plunge and visit the hospital.

Yes we could go to our local surgery, when we can get an appointment or the hospital clinic but surely if we choose the latter they can decide which department we need.

A few years ago I had flutters in my chest and went to my GP and to cut a long story short I had a heart problem which needed an operation.

If I had not gone to the doctor I would not be alive today. Some people are too proud to have a check up, and some are even too lazy but what we do not want to hear is that 25 per cent of us are wasting NHS time.

Surely it is better to be safe than sorry even if it is for our own peace of mind?

GEOFF MALHAM

Clarence Grove Road, Weston

Thank you

ON FRIDAY December 17 Kewstoke village grinds to a halt. Crookes Lane was impassable with the heavy snow.

Why does our village never get gritted? Maintenance men from Cygnet Hospital came to the aid of many parents collecting their children from Kewstoke Primary school in the morning, finding they could not negotiate the hill and becoming stuck, as well as 48 pensioners onboard a coach.

Cygnet Hospital staff helped grit the road as well as towing many stranded cars and taxis.

A big thank you must go to them and to Cygnet Hospital management for their generosity in helping the local community.

Is the local parish council powerless in demanding that North Somerset Council grit this road, which also happens to be a bus route?

I am sure if all us locals withheld our community tax North Somerset Council would have to take note and grit our village?

STUART ROBERTSON

Crookes Lane, Kewstoke

Wind energy

THE RSPB has written a letter of objection to the planning application 52/10/00018 Wind energy development at Poplar Farm, West Huntspill by next Generation (Ecotricity).

The RSPB, Natural England and Somerset Wildlife Trust joined forces to insist that Ecotricity carried out a radar survey of the migratory birds before submitting the application. The power company ignored this advice in their rush to fill the pockets of their shareholders and landowners with large subsidies that the ordinary electricity bill payer provides often without knowing it.

The environmental statement submitted by Ecotricity clearly state: “The site does not lie on any recognised bird migration routes and is therefore unlikely to be utilised by significant numbers of migratory birds.

“Numbers of migratory birds noted during the baseline surveys were small and clearly insignificant.”

This is known to be false by anyone who lives in the vicinity and by bird enthusiasts from further afield as well as the experts from the RSPB, natural England and Somerset Wildlife Trust but apparently not by the so called experts that carried out the survey on behalf of the power company.

This wall of rotating blades spread over half a mile wide and devastate flocks of gees, swans or ducks that have the misfortune to fly over the site.

The birds fly in between the Severn Estuary Special Protection Area and the Somerset Levels and Moors Special Protection Area.

There is little point in having these special protection areas if they have to run the gauntlet of turbine blades when flying between the two sites.

Ducks such as widgeon can travel out twice a day along this flight path.

We as humans can recognise wind turbine blades moving through the sky on an axis.

These innocent creatures cannot perceive the movement of the blades and consequently wind turbines are always going to be invisible.

We encourage those who share our concern for the welfare of the birds to object to the application on the Sedgemoor Planning portal.

JOHN WAKEFIELD AND JULIE TROTT

Withy Road, West Huntspill