Chester Chronicle letters

Nov 28 2003 Daily Post

A FEATURE in the Chronicle, November 21, celebrated the 20 year success of Chester's park-and-ride service. The feature concluded with council plans to construct a fifth park-and-ride site (at the junction of the M53).

But does Chester really need another park-and-ride site? As the Chronicle made clear, Chester already has four sites (3,170 parking spaces). This is one of the largest schemes in the country. The new site (1,200 spaces) would increase provision by some 37%.

In addition to the 3,170 regular spaces, Chester enjoys the unique advantage of the use of some of the 5,000 parking spaces at Chester Zoo as an overflow for the Upton site during the Christmas and January sales periods.

There is little evidence that the present system is suffering from a lack of capacity. The Upton site has planning permission for a large extension, but this has never been implemented.

Some 300 parking spaces at the Wrexham Road site have been handed over for the private parking of companies on the business park. This does not indicate a system under stress.

The site proposed for the fifth park-and-ride is that chosen for the CDTS Phase 1 (Guided Busway) scheme.

Both the city and county councils declined to finance the Busway following cautions by their officers that costs could rise alarmingly once construction began and that there were uncertainties about the expected level of patronage.

There are also questions as to how the new service would operate. Presumably buses would access the city via Hoole Road, the most direct route. This would add 90 bus movements each way along Hoole Road, which would not help congestion on this vital approach road.

The Busway scheme proposed to terminate in Frodsham Street.

If the park-and-ride service does the same then 90 additional bus move-ments will be added to this very busy street.

Alternatively, if the service ends at the Bus Exchange (Market Square) then it will occupy one of the 15 bus bays in the replacement Bus Exchange which is part of the Northgate Development. This would displace one of the existing bus services - which bus service would be dropped?

Chester's transport needs are changing. During the next few years 6,000 to 7,000 new residents are expected to come to live in the city centre.

For these, as for the present residents in the city and the suburbs, park-and-ride is largely irrelevant. What they need are cheap, clean and reliable bus services into, out of and across the city.

Park-and-ride services are only relevant to those who have the use of a car, they do not serve the whole community.

At a time when councillors are expressing anger and concern at the loss of our existing bus services and parents are fighting to retain their school buses, does it make sense to put even more resources into park-and-ride?

Local Government finances are under pressure; Council Tax payers are stretched to the limit. Does it make sense to spend more of our money on yet another park-and-ride service?

Park-and-ride is an important part of Chester's transport network - but only a part. The time has come for a more balanced approach to Chester's transport needs, with more attention and resources given to maintaining and improving our own vital bus services.

W V JONES Daleside, Upton Heath, Chester

I FOUND the article, 'The Fall of a President' in The Chronicle November 14 to be obscene.

Perhaps Sally Starborg should consider that if she was in a country such as Iraq when ruled by Saddam Hussein, and not under a democratic leader such as George Bush or Tony Blair, she would not be able to erect such a monument to topple.

I do not approve of war - and I have had some misgivings about the war in Iraq - but I do appreciate my freedom to express my opinions openly and without fear of reprisal. To compare Bush with Hussein is a disgrace.

As for Chris Davies - I would remind him that, whilst the USA is far from perfect, they are the single most generous benefactor to the UN, donating $2bn - which is 25% of the total budget - and this year alone donated $1.4bn to the United Nations' programme - more than all the rest of the member nations combined.

KIM CONNOLLY

AT A time when the President of the United States of America enjoyed an official State visit - the only one granted by Her Majesty during her reign - and the followers of Richard Athinson and Chester Stop the War Coalition banged the drum for their cause, I thought that I, with the permission of the Chronicle would tell you a story about June 6, 1944, invasion, D-Day.

On June 6, 1944 the largest combined service military operation the world has ever seen took place and this is the story of one man who landed with the Canadian troops on the Juno and Sword beach head on June 7, 1944, at a landing near Luc-Sur-Mer.

It should be said at the beginning that Tom Astbury was a conscientious objector, he was a corporal in the (Royal) Pioneer Corps and he had been trained to lay ground wire communications. Previously he was a lay preacher at the church in Westminster Road, Hoole, and had often preached on the Market Square, Chester.

On the previous day, June 6, the landing met with light opposition and the soldiers pushed up the narrow roads up from the beach but at some stage this group were cornered and shot near the Abbey of Ardenne by the 12th SS Panzer.

The road down to Luc-Sur-Mer, Lion-Sur-Mer and Langrine-Sur-Mer was quickly fortified by the Waffen SS troops who were used to close fighting and field war conditions on the Russian Front.

When the British and Canadians landed on June 7, they were confronted with the Waffen SS in the vanguard and behind them the SS troops of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment commanded by Standart Fuhrer Kurt Meyer who, at 34 years of age, was the youngest Major General in the German army.

Kurt Meyer was an excellent tactical commander and he barred the way forward to Caen for two months.

Tom's part in this battle was that he and a Canadian NCO had to crawl forward up to the 16ft-wide road which had ditches and high hedges on both sides.

They had got forward of the platoon in laying the wires off of a drum and the NCO was wounded by machine gun fire from a concrete pill box in a field the other side of the hedge.

This fighting did not allow the platoon to move forward and so Tom crawled forward until the machine gun could not be depressed further and then he tied together with a field dressing bandage a number of kicker charges (4 inch by a quarter inch diameter) which he had in order to crack rocks and help clear the path for the communications wire.

He then manoeuvred himself so that he could lob the charges in an arching curve through the letter box-like opening nearest to him and from which the machine gun fire was spraying the road down hill.

The charges exploded, knocking out the machine gun and the Canadians advanced up the hill. Tom did not carry a rifle or side arm and when the Lieutenant of the platoon (about 30 men) got up to him he said words to the effect 'You must have been a good bowler in civvy life, it was neat how you got it through the letter box'. Tom said 'Well, God was on my side.'

Tom received a mention in dispatches and was later promoted. About two months later it came about that amidst the rubble of Caen Cathedral, Tom Astbury participated in preaching in a combined service of thanksgiving with the old flag of Canada, the free French, the Polish, the United States and British flags.

The Canadians made a wooden cross out of a couple of timbers or lumber and took it with them all the way to Germany.

Freedom from fear and injustice and oppression will be ours only in the measure that you, who value such freedom, are prepared to endure without yielding, and to support what you believe to be true and just, and to defend it to whatever cost.

In other words, it is only with object reference and being aware of one's inner following, and thoughts of oneself and one's family and being able to recognise these thoughts as being part of oneself and conforming to what is right and not stereotyped propaganda directing you to a course of action.

Tom lived into his eighties, continued preaching and is buried in a Chester cemetery.

OLD WAVERTONIAN

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with the sentiments expressed in Jonathan Derry's letter published in your paper on November 21.

Now that Bush has visited this country it is blatantly obvious that no attempt was made to achieve anything globally and it was a stunt to further George Bush and Tony Blair's personal ambitions.

With the Iraq situation not going to plan Bush needs to revitalise his election campaign. His poodle Tony Blair made sure that the demonstrations were kept well and truly in the background and that the palace pageantry was rolled out.

With George and Laura Bush shaking hands with the Queen and selected dignitaries, Bush's public relations people must be well pleased. Blair and Bush stand shoulder to shoulder and state that they intend to continue the war against global terrorism.

What they didn't tell us is that the invasion and occupation of Iraq and America's continuing block on UN resolutions against Israel have helped to create the terrorist threat.

Blair told us that if we didn't disarm Hussein of his weapons of mass destruction, they would fall into the hands of al-Qaeda and terrorism would increase.

Now that Saddam Hussein has been overthrown why is terrorism increasing? Are they increasing because the weapons of mass destruction did fall into the hands of al-Qaeda and that's why we can't find them, or was it another Blair lie like the 45-minute threat to convince us to go to war?

The stark reality is that al-Qaeda is finding a willing ally in a country where innocent civilians are being killed and troops patrol the streets in full battle gear.

George Bush's visit would have been an ideal time to have made a joint statement that America and the UK want to hand over power to a provisional Iraqi government as soon as possible with elections to follow to create a democracy. Bush has a tricky political balancing act before the next American elections.

On the one hand he wants to withdraw from guerrilla warfare with its American soldiers' body bags and on the other hand not to create a democracy in Iraq that doesn't enshrine the interests of the American oil barons, the powerful Israeli lobby in the US and the neo-conservatives who wish to reshape the Middle East.

The recent terrorist attack against British interests in Istanbul deflected any possible discussions about the US discriminatory steel tariff and Blair in his usual boot-licking role didn't press the matter.

Tony Blair has a great capacity for insulting our intelligence and inviting George Bush to Sedgefield is a prime example.

He might have won a few more votes in his constituency but it will require all the efforts of his spin doctors to convince the general public after his lamentable record on the public services and other important issues, that he has the interests of this country as his first priority.

As we are told that Britain can expect a terrorist attack at any time we remain to be convinced.

PETER D FRANCIS Westminster Park, Chester.