Chester Chronicle letters

Jan 30 2004 Daily Post

I AGREE with Old Wavertonian that West Cheshire College should be flexible in its approach to learning, which is why, of our 22,000 students per year, a third do not learn on our main sites.

We deliver learning in more than 60 places in the community we serve, and the number and sites change according to the needs of that community. We deliver learning on employers' premises, community venues and schools (including, I am pleased to say, at Queen's Park High School).

Twenty thousand of our learners are over 19 (in fact, most are over 25) so they appreciate this flexibility and we were commended for it by OFSTED during our inspection.

As a vocational college, we need to provide our learners with access to high-quality specialist facilities and we can only do that on our main sites. It is impossible to develop the two sites we own in Chester.

Greenbank is a listed building and Handbridge is in the green belt, so we would have to close the college for two years in order to rebuild on top of existing buildings, which is obviously not an option.

As an incorporated body, the college only gets income from the learning it delivers. This income comes from the learner, their employer or the Learning and Skills Council, which funds particular qualifications.

Despite the restraints this puts on the college, we are investing heavily in improving the vocational facilities available for our learners with a £10m project under way in Ellesmere Port and our plans for a state-of the-art campus in Chester.

We have a very close working relationships with all the schools in West Cheshire and are leading a very successful initiative to increase option choices for 14 to 16-year-olds. Currently we have 400 such young people learning with us as part of their studies, some of whom come from Queen's Park High School.

I hope the Old Wavertonian will take the opportunity of our open day on 7 February to visit us and find out what we do. I would be happy to discuss our plans and why we need them with him/her in detail at any time.

SARA MOGEL Principal, West Cheshire College

I FEEL your reporting of the proposed car park charges was misleading.

You started the article by quoting the largest tariff increase of 16% (50p), ignoring the fact the next tariff band had gone down by 12%.

You also totally ignored the fact half the tariff bands had remained unchanged. The £1 evening charge has stayed at this rate for nearly six years; the majority of the remaining bands were changed by only 20p.

The city council's cabinet is recommending increases generally in line with inflation.

Charges vary in detail between various car parks but your report chose to focus on one charge in one car park, namely Princess Street. In this case, the proposal is to keep the 2-hour charge at £2.50, eliminate the 3-hour charge and reduce the 4-hour band from £4.00 to £3.50.

This 3- to 4-hour period is the most popular period for people visiting the city centre and the proposals mean their stay will cost 50p less. One of the reasons for the proposed changes is to encourage people to stay longer. Our car parks are a major property asset and we have the responsibility of keeping them in good order, which costs money, and obtaining from them an income to help support other essential services.

Failure to meet this responsibility would adversely reflect on the council charges affecting all ratepayers, not just those who use the car parks.

It also needs to be noted that the private car parks in the city centre charge considerably more than the council.

Cllr JIM LATHAM, Portfolio for development and regeneration Chester City Council

I AM writing to complain about the risk to pedestrians, particularly children, crossing Queen's Park Road at its junction with Handbridge.

I cross this road frequently with my children, aged three and four, and the width of the road combined with heavy traffic and the proximity to the junction and petrol station make it very dangerous.

This crossing is heavily used by pedestrians. The route is used by families walking into town, children travelling to St Mary's school, children coming from Queen's Park High School and pensioners.

I understand recent suggestions to improve safety were overturned by the Queen's Park motorist lobby and that suggestions for an island were rebuffed by the petrol station, arguing it needed the room for its tankers.

I understand there is a significant accident rate. There is no alternative safe place to cross when walking into town.

With regards to the objectors:

The petrol station has two entrances/exits. Both are very wide. Has their concern regarding tanker access actually been tested?

Which is more important, the safety of children or the speed with which motorists can get out of Queen's Park? Would a zebra crossing delay them that much?

I often see campaigns for safety improvements after children have died on roads. Do we have to wait for a tragedy? Is their a national safety body that can carry out a risk assessment?

COLIN WHITE Eaton Road, Handbridge

IT is nice to know that, following the huge success of the traffic-free Millennium Greenway, our councils are planning further traffic-free routes for those willing and able to use their cars less. Most of us are now more aware of the benefits using our own steam brings to our environment, wildlife and health. Could I request the authorities give some thought to the following points:

More efficient use of existing park and rides - consider closing slightly later.

Those working in the city would prefer to use park and ride when possible but are forced to add to the morning rush hour if working a little later.

There are a number of traders willing to pay the park and ride fare of customers when buying goods above a certain value.

As patronage has levelled out it seems unlikely the need would arise, but existing park and ride sites already have approval to expand slightly, a considerably less expensive option than CDTS or a further huge park and ride site.

A way to encourage more rail use is required too - improvement to Chester Station and access on foot from Hoole. Has anyone looked into the possibility of reopening smaller stations?

AUDREY HODGKINSON, Secretary, Anti-CDTS Campaign Groups

THE Kingsway sub-post office has closed, leaving people with a trek to Upton or Hoole.

When the closure was announced at the end of last year, my Labour Party colleague Alex Black and I received more than 600 replies from our local survey. This was sent to Post Office Ltd, which chose to disregard the views of local people and go ahead with the closure.

Residents have been expressing anger at the inadequate response to the threat of closure made by their Liberal Democrat councillors and party, even though they were aware of this threat as long ago as September 2002. At that time, they announced they would be working against closure of a branch in Hoole. Why was this? Because there was an election in Hoole!

Liberal Democrats always pick a big issue when local elections draw near. Their actions over post office closures were bogus and intended only to boost their local election results.

There is, however, an election in Plas Newton this year, when a Liberal Democrat councillor is defending his 'mayoral seat', giving residents the opportunity to express their disappointment by giving him the golden boot.

PETE GRIFFITHS Long Lane, Upton

THE quotation you credited to me in last week's edition of The Chronicle does not represent my view. Hoole United Reformed Church does not play a more prominent part in the community than the other churches. It plays an equal part.

The churches in Hoole have co-operated together in a partnership for many years to serve the community to which they belong. Each of them puts community service high on their agenda through their youth clubs, luncheon clubs, mother-and-toddler groups and uniformed organisations.

Hoole is a great place to live but it does have its stresses. Vandalism and anti-social behaviour are topical examples.

Partnerships are particular valuable and should not be undermined by reports of churches vying with each other.

GORDON SMITH Former Lord Mayor, Canadian Avenue, Hoole

HOW lovely to read an article in Your Time on January 16 about a boyhood hero of mine, Alan A'Court, who played outside-left for Liverpool and England.

It reminds me of the day I was playing for Liverpool Institute against Prescot Grammar School in the Merseyside Junior Shield in 1958. Prescot Grammar, a very good team, won 2-0!

My father, who was football mad, used to come and watch our team every week from the touchline. Imagine his reaction when a duffle-coated chap walked up to him and started talking about the game. The chap turned out to be Alan, an ex-Prescot Grammar School pupil. He is a charming man and a great role model for today's footballers.

K R WILCOCK Greenfield Avenue, Higher Kinnerton.

I WAS amazed and appalled by the apparent disregard for the value of life and the utter lack of compassion for a woman who has lost her only child shown by the writer of the letter 'No sympathy', in The Chronicle, January 23.

If the writer had taken the trouble to follow the case of Sarah Campbell, he/she would have been aware that at no time has Mrs Campbell denied the wrong that her daughter committed. The girl was found guilty and sentenced.

Mrs Campbell's mission to seek justice is merely highlighting the necessity for an inquest, as 12 months have now elapsed since her daughter's death, and a public inquiry which, the writer might observe, has the full backing of the Howard League for Penal Reform.

Is that not sufficient?

E O JONES Whitchurch, Shropshire

ONE may choose to sympathise or not with the relatives and friends of those who commit suicide in prison (Letters, 23 January). But the suicides of young offenders are particularly poignant.

Each one must have felt there was no hope, no possibility of redemption in the long life that still lay ahead. For any parent, that is a shocking fact to face.

Our prisons are overcrowded and ineffective, judging by the reoffending rate. The pressure for change to our penal system comes from a small minority in our society, most of them directly involved through job or through personal circumstance.

It is easy for the rest of us to think of prisons taking difficult or disturbed people out of sight, out of mind. Public inquiries are an important part of the process in waking us up to a part of our society that we ignore at our peril. Your coverage of one person's fight for such an inquiry is to be commended.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

I REFER to your correspondent's letter 'No sympathy', January 23, and wish to comment as follows.

I would like to draw his/her attention to the spotlight that has been thrown during this last week on our prison system. In particular, Styal has been singled out.

In the last few weeks, Anne Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, Paul Goggins, Prisons Minister, and Stephen Shaw, Prisons Ombudsman, have drawn attention to the failings existing in our prisons.

In a civilised society, I believe we ignore the problems of the most vulnerable members of that society at our peril. Rather than denigrate the efforts of Mrs Pauline Campbell, trustee of the Howard League for Penal Reform, for refusing to remain silent and for taking up the cause of people who find themselves incarcerated in these prisons, we should be absolutely and wholly behind her and supporting her in every way that we can.

J MEREDITH Malpas

THE candlelit vigil held outside Styal Prison on January 18 marked the first anniversary of my daughter Sarah's tragic death.

She died, aged 18, at a time when she was supposed to be in the 'care' of HM Prison & YOI, Styal, Cheshire ('Vigil for Sarah', January 23).

Friends and supporters also attended, the media response was excellent and the vigil formed part of Granada Television's afternoon news bulletin later that afternoon. Flowers were laid, and banners displayed, carrying the words 'Shame on the Home Office', 'Prison deaths scandal', 'HM Prison Service failed to care' and 'Who is responsible?'

It is important to raise public awareness about the men, women and children who are dying in Her Majesty's Prisons (an average of two die each week), and to highlight the institutional neglect, systemic failings and poor medical care which clearly play a part in these deaths.

Sarah's conviction was based on a non-violent offence (harassment), which resulted in a conviction of manslaughter. However, she had been led to believe that, if convicted, she would serve her sentence in a secure psychiatric hospital.

The fact that she was suffering from liver disease, severe depression and had lost two stone in weight in the two months prior to her death meant that she was very poorly and was desperately in need of care and treatment. It is an appalling indictment on HM Prison Service that vulnerable individuals such as Sarah lose their lives while in the so-called care of the State.

The lack of information and support offered to bereaved next-of-kin following a 'death in custody' is something which I need to highlight. Essential details were not passed to me in the days immediately following Sarah's death, eg the date, time and place of her post-mortem examination, which meant that I was denied the opportunity to have my own medical representative present when the pathologist's examination took place. This is clearly unacceptable.

Inquest is the only non-governmental organisation that works directly with bereaved people following a death in custody, and I have found their help to be invaluable. Given that, on average, two prisoners die each week, it is possible that some of your readers may know of a bereaved family in need of such support.

For that reason, I mention their contact details: Inquest, 89-93 Fonthill Road, London N4 3JH.

Tel: 020 7263 1111. Website: www.inquest.org.uk  Sarah's inquest has still not been held, nor has a date been scheduled, despite the fact that she died more than a year ago. The dilatory response of HM Prison Service and the Home Office is inexcusable.

I should like to thank the Chester Chronicle for the fair and balanced article reproduced in last week's paper.

PAULINE B CAMPBELL Malpas

ONCE again, the people of Blacon have shown their generosity in helping the Blacon Project raise £1,183 towards the Blacon Project funds.

This could not happen without help and support from volunteers. We are also very grateful to the local businesses who contributed to the renewal of the float.

JOE ROSE Blacon Project