YEP Letters December 7

Check out today's YEP letters

Let’s get back to domestic agenda

John Appleyard,by email

I’m as pleased as anyone to see the government beaten three times in the Brexit debate in Parliament, there is a crisis at the heart of government but what’s seriously missing in these debates is the interests of ordinary people outside Parliament.

While ever the debate is about Parliamentary manoeuvres, austerity, racism, the scrapping of Universal Credit, funding of the NHS, raising wages and benefits, housing and the funding of education is all being overlooked.

We really do need to get back to the domestic agenda.

Concern over council’s dog fouling policy

Peter Haddington, Bradford

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I smiled when I read the article about the dog fouling laws that are being introduced (YEP November 29).

Especially when a councillor says we don’t want to have to fine people. Anyone who has never been in Leeds City Council’s spotlight can be forgiven for believing this statement but anyone who has sampled the council’s methods of enforcement when money is involved will know that this remark is well wide of the mark.

Leeds City Council claim to have a zero tolerance approach towards dog fouling but I have only ever known this to apply when they’re making money from it, and if this is correct why have there been sightings of the dog bins overflowing? At the end of this article the question is asked is there a problem with dog poo in Leeds?

Of course there is a problem which will always remain so until the council start targeting people who have no intention of cleaning up after their dogs instead of focusing so much on making money from this issue. To fine people for not carrying bags is not the solution it just makes it easier for the council to issue fines.

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I have occasionally run out of bags but have still managed to clean up, does that make me guilty? I was challenged some years ago on a park in Leeds for allegedly missing my dog fouling. I got my dog bags out and offered to go clean up but was not allowed to. I was later fined an obscene amount of money and used as an example.

This is hardly the actions of an organisation who don’t want to fine people. Anyone who owns a dog will know that it’s not always easy to see where your dog has fouled amongst wet leaves and mud etc and anyone who is prepared to go clear up should be allowed to do so without being fined. I have cleaned up many times since after other people’s dogs who have accidently missed them - would a genuine dog fouler bother to do that?

All wardens should be armed with cameras, they should be using them to try and provide indisputable evidence, no one should be convicted unless they are proven guilty. Some people are under the illusion that photographic evidence is required to secure a conviction or successful prosecution, these people have never experienced Leeds City Council’s methods of enforcement.

Anyone who refuses to clean up and will not comply with a warden’s requests are the people who should be facing prosecution and receiving excessive fines.

Infrastructure improvement is needed

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Coun Andrew Carter CBE, Leader of the Conservative Group, Calverley & Farsley Ward, Leeds City Council

I see Coun Richard Lewis has written to the YEP again (‘We need to look at alternatives to solve congestion’, November 29), and on this occasion I happen to agree with him, we do need to find alternatives to solving congestion.

Regrettably the Labour administration has singularly failed to deliver those alternatives, suffering the ignominy of losing the multi-million pound New Generation Transport (NGT) scheme along the way having totally failed to listen to the concerns of residents about the impact of the scheme. Also, until he and his colleagues deliver a serious alternative through a major improvement in public transport infrastructure, people are left with little choice but to drive.

The introduction of cycle lanes is fine but given the state of public transport in the city and congestion on the roads is it really wise to introduce cycling alternatives at the expense of road capacity? These measure should be in addition to existing road capacity not instead of.

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As your readers will know a clean air zone is about to be introduced in Leeds – congestion is a major contributor to that, will reducing road capacity improve that situation? I think not.

This is not the only example, there are proposals for bus only lanes in other parts of the city that could have the same impact. And of course he could not resist but attempt to blame the Government, it’s always someone else’s fault, an all too familiar refrain from the Labour administration.

Tackle other problems

A Hague, Leeds

Why does our council want to protect Leeds from flooding for 200 years? Even 100 years is stretching it a lot.

It has flooded only once in the last 80 years or more so one step at a time please and tackle other problems instead.

Brexit comedy seems endless

Mr L Brook, Rothwell

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The comedy farce of Brexit seems endless. So, we will be “worse off” if we take control of our country back. This may well be correct.

Successive Governments have allowed Brussels to move stealthily from a trade organisation to assume total control of every aspect of our government.

Finally, the nation was given a chance to stop this and that is what they voted for.

So, our “leaders” then considered their personal interest and losses and seek to try and persuade us that the consequences of leaving our oppressors are better than the efforts we will have to make to get back our nationality and sole control of our 
country.

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If our leaders feel that way why did they give us a vote at all? They were even devious enough to let us vote and then compound the deception by refusing to leave unless we retain some of our restrictions and remain a “United State of Europe”.

Let us know what you think

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