Wirral News letters, October 12

Oct 12 2011 Birkenhead News

Repay debt to family

I READ the article in this week’s Wirral News concerning the threat of closure of the New Palace at New Brighton.

I’m retired now, but the New Palace and Tower Grounds were magical places to visit as a boy.

Bit by bit, New Brighton was slowly allowed to ‘die’ by successive councils, despite the crowds which still turned up every weekend and many weekdays and filled the car park spaces.

The Wilkie family clung on, providing the almost only entertainment for children. Neptune have done a good job up to now, with the superb Floral Pavilion and the new complex with Morrisons etc further along the promenade.

Just as New Brighton appears to be coming alive again, isn’t it time that this council repay the debt to David Wilkie and his employees by ensuring they remain in business?

If Neptune had stuck to their original plan, a swimming pool would have been the ‘icing on the cake’, particularly if it had been enclosed and useable in all weathers!

Ian Calder

Wallasey resident

Oh buoy, why?

AS a user of the model boat lake at New Brighton I cannot understand why the lighthouse and the marker buoys have been removed by order from Wirral Borough Council.

In the past six weeks or so there has been a large interest from both model boat enthusiasts and the bystanders having fun, and now we see only an empty lake and just the odd boat sailing.

To me this is like having a football pitch without goals.

I would think that the attraction of all the model boats in the lake would please the council when they themselves are trying to encourage the public to visit New Brighton.

But maybe they don’t like to see people having fun.

D. Parry

Wallasey

Address safety

THE council’s objective to ‘improve public safety’ as stated in its code of practice for use of mobile CCTV is unfortunately further from the truth.

The council’s practice is to place a warning sign near to the area that is being monitored, semi-covertly (as the occupants of these little CCTV vehicles sit down in their seats avoiding direct observation from motorists or passers-by). I encountered such a sign, or should I say ‘it’ encountered my youngest child as we crossed Ashburton Road in Wallasey taking my children to St Albans school the other morning.

We crossed the road, continued along the pavement but my daughter immediately struck the corner of the warning sign which was at eye level to her.

Not only this, the space between the sign and wall only allowed passage for one adult.

At this time of morning there are hundreds of parents and children using this part of the pavement, some having to walk around the sign by stepping into the road.

This again required going around the sign as part of it protruded into the road as well. The consequences of a child striking the sign would cause facial injury or even an eye injury, the consequences of a vehicle making contact with the part of the sign that protrudes into the road for any pedestrian would cause further injury, if not more serious than the sign being struck directly by a pedestrian.

I decided to move the sign slightly so as free passage was available to pedestrians.

I then walked down to the CCTV vehicle and tapped on the window, the occupant at first ignored me but eventually wound down the window. I informed him of my issue with the sign politely but he just huffed and puffed and said that was where the council told them to put the sign.

Therefore, could the council, instead of being more interested in generating revenue through the use of semi-covert surveillance, please address the true meaning of public safety?

Benet Corkill

Via website

Licence penalty

A RECENT article (Baroness opens new project, September 28) suggested that non-payment of the TV Licence fee can result in imprisonment. That is not the case.

The maximum penalty for watching TV illegally is a fine of up to £1,000.

A custodial sentence can be imposed as a result of non-payment of court fines, including fines for TV licence evasion, however that is a matter for the courts.

Tim Downs

TV Licensing