Letters to the editor

Children deserve the best start in life

Savage cuts of almost 20 per cent to Sure Start Children’s Centres’ budgets in 2011/12 are planned by Warwickshire County Council.

Papers from the January 27 cabinet meeting show that the council’s budget overall will be cut by under three per cent but Children’s Centres and other early intervention projects are to be cut by six times as much.

Childrens’ Centres give children the best start in life by supporting families from before birth until children reach school. This support is a lifeline for many parents.

Outstanding results are being achieved. In Lillington the proportion of children achieving good development by the end of their first year of school went up from 35 per cent to 60 per cent between 2007 and 2009. In Sydenham it went up from 40 per cent to 57 per cent. Investing in these early years will save millions later, improve education results, reduce crime, enhance health, make for happier family life and boost the economy. Children’s Centres should be a top priority not a soft target.

So I’m appealing to your readers to join me in opposing this plan. Please contact your local councillors before the final decision is taken on February 15 and save this vital service. - Professor Paul Bywaters, Chairman, Leamington and Warwick West Children’s Centres Strategic Advisory Group.

Pollution is keeping you in the dark

Many readers will have watched the BBC Stargazing programmes early in January and have been inspired to look up at the heavens on the next clear night.

Sadly if you live in Leamington you will not have seen much. Light pollution in the town is so bad that only the brightest stars and planets can be seen while the Milky Way, our own galaxy with its hundreds of billions of stars creating a ribbon of luminescence across the sky, simply cannot be seen at all.

It is getting worse every year. If you visit the website of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (http://www.cprewm.org.uk/nightblight.html) you will see a comparison between the West Midlands as monitored by satellite at night in 1993 and in 2000. In seven years Warwickshire had lost 84 per cent of its darker skies while the light saturated areas in the centre of our towns and cities had expanded. That was ten years ago.

You may think it doesn’t matter and that geeky enthusiasts should go and find their stars in the countryside and not complain about the towns.

Surely Leamington is not “rural England” is it? Yet nowhere in the town is more than a mile from green fields in at least one direction. Anyone driving in from the M42 at night must have observed the vast glow that hangs over Leamington and Warwick like a fiery fog.

It does matter and not just because generations are growing up without ever seeing the skies as our ancestors saw them. It matters because the light represents enormous wastage of the power used to generate it and hence contributes greatly to our carbon footprint. It is also our council tax which is paying for it. What can be done? Some local authorities are already switching off one in three street lights after a certain time of night, and others faced with the need for severe financial cutbacks are contemplating similar or more drastic measures.

But better that than front line services. Many will argue that the provision of street lighting is just such a service and that without it lives and property will be at risk. But we don’t need it all night and we don’t need so much during the evening. A reduced number of street lights could be made more efficient by the use of baffles or cones on top to deflect light downwards, as too much light is wasted illuminating the sky above. A more radical idea would be the introduction of low level lighting that brightens up when motion of cars or people is sensed. This has already been pioneered in some French towns, but such a change would no doubt not be cost-effective at present.

However, local businesses and householders, as well as councils, would make a valuable contribution to the battle against light pollution if all security lights were motion sensitive. Not only would they be saving money and power, the lights would draw attention to movement which may indicate criminal activity whereas lights blazing all night simply save the criminal bringing a torch. Some shopkeepers leave their lights on until late at night, even when closed, to advertise their wares and to create greater security, both legitimate and understandable motives but again reduced wattage would save them money while achieving the same result.

It is modern madness that our towns and cities are visible from space at night. Across the world more and more urban authorities will be considering the alternatives as the cost of fuel rises. Leamington should be leading the way.

If you are at all concerned about this issue, the CPRE website quoted above provides useful links to other groups such as the Campaign for Dark Skies, the Institution for Lighting Engineers, and the International Dark-Sky Association. - Jim Dean, Woodbine Street, Leamington Spa.

Confusion over plans for the town

In an otherwise excellent and informative piece about Castle Lane, you have confused two quite separate initiatives.

The Town Centre Plan is a recent conjoint initiative which embraces all aspects of town life, including “the impact of traffic”. Later this year there will be a further consultative phase to examining options for change. No specific options for reducing the impact of traffic have yet been identified as part of the plan.

In 2004 the Warwick Area Committee mandated the officers to prepare a new traffic management scheme “through consultation and consensus building with stakeholders”. The Warwick Traffic Forum is that consultative body. The result of its deliberations has already brought about improvements to the traffic environment in Chapel Street, Gerrard Street and St Nicholas Church Street, and work has now begun in Castle Lane.

No doubt the forum’s continuing work will be integrated into the eventual town centre plan, but at the moment there is no agreed “scheme” as your article implies - Dennis Crips, St Nicholas Church Street, Warwick.

Closer inspection of council needed

Most taxpayers accept that cuts must be made to the public payroll if this country is to be restored to some sort of financial wellbeing.

Councils like most public bodies have grown very fat over the last few years and should now start to put their houses in order. They will naturally resist cuts to their inflated budgets, and are much too prone to cutting the wrong people when forced to make savings.

If councils were to run coal mines you would probably end up with no miners but lots and lots of colliery managers and assorted hangers on.

Lest anyone disagree that councils are bloated and inefficient, I would refer them to an article in the Courier last week. You showed a photograph of the Warwick District Council food safety team.

There were ten food inspectors who were apparently responsible for 1,500 inspections per year. This sounds OK until you realise that equates to only three visits per week per person. Since most visits take little more than half-an-hour, three visits ought to be an easy target per day. How on earth do these people fill their day?

I can assure them that the private sector would demand a lot more productivity than this.

I dread to think what the combined salaries, car allowances and pensions must be for this lot. The sad thing is that it is those of us out here in “the real world” who have to pay taxes to support this, though easy hours, early retirement and generous index-linked pensions are unlikely to come our way. - Name and address supplied.

Academies are not the way forward

We are very concerned that at least one of the secondary schools in Warwick district has expressed an intention to become an academy school.

We believe that the Academies Bill is an attack on the education system in this country. It is an attempt to destroy a democratic, planned, state education system and replace it with a two tier, market driven collection of independent schools at the mercy of education companies driven by profit.

Are your readers aware that the government has “top-sliced” £145m of funding to local councils to use as a bribe for any schools that wish to become academies? This will result in deeper cuts to services provided by the local authority such as co-ordinated teacher training and development; provision for children with special educational needs; early years provision; county music service and provision for children with English as an additional language. The schools which remain with the local authority (probably mostly primary schools) will therefore be operating at a disadvantage.

For many years Warwickshire County Council has provided education for the majority of the children who live within its borders. The local authority is led by democratically elected councillors and most schools are run by a headteacher working with a group of school governors, some of whom are appointed by the local authority, others are elected by parents or staff. The taxpayer can influence policy through their vote in local elections. This democracy will disappear in academy schools, as they become independent from the local authority, there will be no accountability to local people. In fact the very act of change to academy status can be decided by the governors of the school without consultation with their stakeholders.

The governors of these schools will tell you that their students will benefit because of the extra cash that the school will receive from the Government. However, the payment to the academy is only guaranteed this year and there is no going back if the payments cease! What they fail to point out is that children attending schools which are not academies will have a reduced quality of service. The Government is keen to advocate choice and promote democracy at local level. This surely is a move in the opposite direction.

It is important that the voices of the parents and the community are heard and we strongly recommend that parents contact the chair of governors requesting a full consultation with all parents takes place. A public meeting should be sought to provide everyone with an interest in the future of the school an opportunity to discuss the proposals. - Jack Oliver, President Central Warwickshire NASUWT, - Anne Oliver, President Warwickshire Federation NASUWT, and members of the Central Warwickshire committee who teach in Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth.

Move police front desk to Tesco

Although the front desk at Warwick Police Station was moved to Shire Hall over a year ago why do they have the heating and lighting on 24/7? I feel the front desk would be better sited in the restaurant of Warwick Tesco - the only time you will see a copper on the streets of Warwick. - Name and address supplied.

Reinstate building as part of park

It has been my experience that Warwick Police Station was frequently unmanned in the past, with directions at the door to ring Leamington which was not very effective.

Presumably there is always someone available at Shire Hall when it is open, which is more central and easier to access.

I am more concerned about the future of the police station building and the site it is on. It should ideally be re-instated as part of Priory Park. The park has, over the years,continually had parts taken away. It is probably unique as a relatively wild area so close to the town centre and it would be good to take back some of the encroachment and not allow further development on it.

The Friends of Priory Park are trying their best to ensure that the upkeep of the Park is improved with the co-operation of Warwick District and Town Councils. Jean Casey, Vine Lane, Warwick.

Concert marked 50th anniversary

On Saturday January 15 the Mid-Warwickshire group of Amnesty International hosted a concert by The Oriflamme Chamber Ensemble, led by Antoine Mitchell, at the St Mary’s Collegiate Church in Warwick.

The orchestra was made up of over 50 players who gave their time and musical talents for free to entertain a thrilled audience of 200 people. The programme of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Berlioz, Harold in Italy was very warmly received and the group owe a huge thanks to Antoine, viola soloist Ingrid Newton and every member of the Oriflamme Ensemble for their generous and talented support.

This year’s concert celebrated Amnesty’s 50th anniversary and the audience heard how, from a small group of volunteers in a tiny office in London, Amnesty has grown to become the biggest and most trusted voluntary human rights organisation in the world with over 2.8 million members worldwide. Members of the audience were invited to pledge to do one of 3 actions which included joining Amnesty, writing a card as part of our annual greetings card campaign or signing a postcard for political prisoners in Burma.

In the words of Amnesty’s founder Peter Benenson: “Only when the last prisoner of conscience has been freed, when the last torture chamber has been closed, when the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a reality for the world’s people, will our work be done.” - Fiona Clayton, Mid-Warwickshire Group of Amnesty International.

Still in touch despite being Down Under

I am just writing to say that as a child more than 50 years ago I remember my father taking great care and attention to fold the precious previous months editions of the Courier and then placing a sleeve of brown paper around them and posting them off to my oldest sister who was living in Africa and this routine was ongoing for a great many years. I for the past 40years have lived in Australia. My dear mother and father have long since passed away but with today’s technology I am able to view the latest news regarding Leamington Spa and the surrounds in an instant without leaving my home.

Thank you so much for making this possible by having your publications available on the internet.

Regards from across the globe. Barry Wollington, via email.