Wirral News letters, 03/03/2010

Mar 3 2010 Birkenhead News

Why don’t you start up kids’ club

MR DODD (Letters, February 24) should go to New Brighton to see what they are doing to the place.

There is a lot of work going on. But there will be no clubs for children to go to.

When I was young and living in Wallasey we found things to do and we did not have what the kids have to day.

Why don’t you try to get a club going in the church hall with some of the other mums and dads? You might find you enjoy it.

PAT MCLEAN,

Beechwood

Win the cat war

COMING late to the discussion on your letters page about the perennial problem of cat fouling in gardens: for the possible benefit of those affected, I’ve found just one solution which permanently dissuades the little darlings.

Forget much of the anti-cat-muck quackery on the market. the sprays, the gels, the water bottles to “frighten cats with their own reflections” – some of it might have short term deterrent effects, but the furry fiends usually come back when the various smells and scents wear off and it’s costly to keep topping them up. The solution is simple – buy short planting sticks from a garden centre and place them upright in the soil of the affected area, a few inches apart, so that there isn’t room for the cats either to jump down into your garden or manoeuvre to a favoured choice of latrine and deposit their filth.

Eventually they will realise it’s too much trouble to do their business on your borders and they’ll move on somewhere else, and then you can begin to take the sticks away.

Don’t remove them all at once or the cats will quickly return, particularly if you’re the only person in the immediate neighbourhood who still has soil in the garden. Thin the sticks out gradually and leave those around the borders’ edge till last so the little darlings continue to get the message, and if the infestation recommences, simply replace the sticks.

Cats are creatures of habit and they will eventually get the hint if they simply can’t get to your flower beds.

Yes, it’s unsightly, and yes you will need a lot of sticks if you have a large garden, but in my experience it’s a worthwhile trade off to keep your borders uncontaminated, and it should be possible to remove the sticks for good within a few months.

Good luck, and don’t despair, gardeners – it’s a war that CAN be won without ringing for a skip to take your top soil away.

DAVID ELSAM,

Wallasey

Road is too busy

AS A resident of Spital Road (B5137) I am becoming increasingly distressed and concerned about the volume and speed of traffic using it.

When we moved here in 1986, it was a safe, quiet, B road with residential properties on both sides and used for access to the village and to Bebington.

With the construction of the retail and business parks, it is now a rat run for everything from essential services to wagons, articulated lorries, trucks, buses, coaches, vans, cars and motorbikes.

They start at about 5am outside our bedroom window and continue in increasing numbers until past 2am.

The speed at which many of the vehicles travel is nearer to 45mph than the legal limit of 30mph and, on occasions, a lot more.

Considering there are elderly people and families with small children living on either side, it is a miracle there have only been two accidents in the last few years.

When we moved here, we were aware of and accepted the fact that the property backed on the A41, but since we are at least 100 feet from it the sound level is acceptable if not desirable.

Now the road at the front, less than 15 feet away has become as busy as the A road and the noise is causing great distress.

I notice that there are many speed warning lights and cameras dotted around Wirral and can only presume that they are there for a purpose – why should this stretch of road be allowed to become a racetrack ?

ANTHONY T AYLEN,

Bromborough

We don’t forget

AFTER reading the article regarding the council tax rise for 2010, if the present leadership had not been involved in the costly exercise of trying to shut the libraries, the meetings and the consequent enquiry which involved the services of a barrister, plus the expensive mistakes at the Oval, maybe the rise would have been even less.

How, one wonders, would the situation be if we were not coming up to an election?

If the councillors believe that we have forgotten what happened last year then they are in for a rude awakening.

No mention of costs for road repairs but we can find money for an accountant at £40,000 and £1.1m for 20mph limits.

Will we also have to change the road signs on the A41 to update on the amount of accidents?

AN IRATE TAXPAYER,

Bromborough