‘Majority of the public input has been totally ignored’

I WRITE in response to your anonymous letter writer querying why there hasn’t been a public outcry to the proposed closure of Rougier Street/Ouse Bridge to private cars by City of York Council.

Unfortunately, in my case, it’s profound apathy.

I have previously participated in high profile campaigns against the closure of Lendal Bridge, The Groves, Navigation Road, Coppergate and Leeman Road together with the current debacle over the closure of the Castle Car Park for a redevelopment they cannot afford.

Unfortunately the majority of the public input has been totally ignored and in the case of The Groves “consultation” the cul-de-sac signs were put up before the end date of the said consultation!

We can only hope the current administration is voted out sooner rather than later.

In the meantime the chaos around the hospital continues.

Elaine Ellis,

Lord Mayors Walk,

York

What do you think?

FEEL strongly about an issue?

Send your views by email to: letters@thepress.co.uk

Write no more than 250 words and please provide your full name, address and mobile number.

Why it is time to do away with the Lords

THIRTY-FOUR new peers created this week presumably all on £300 a day plus expenses?

If they attend for just five days a week that is £1,500 each or for the lot £51,000 a week re: £2,652,000 a year.

For what purpose and justification can this be allowed to happen?

I cannot see how this taxpayers money will benefit the general public?

Time to do away with the Lords or at least cut the membership drastically.

Barrie Crowther,

Walton, Wakefield

—

Government needs to end housing benefit freeze

IT is a scandal that in a country as wealthy as ours more than 385 people across Yorkshire and the Humber are bracing themselves for another freezing night on the streets, while 4,150 children are set to wake up on Christmas morning without a safe and secure home.

Every day at Shelter we hear from parents who are terrified of waiting out another winter in appalling temporary accommodation.

Cut off from family and friends in a bleak emergency B&B, miles away from their communities, many are forced to watch their children’s breath hang in the air as mould climbs the walls.

As the government sets out their Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, new research from Shelter reveals the shocking scale of England’s housing emergency. The number of people officially recorded as homeless in Yorkshire and the Humber has risen by an alarming 11 per cent in one year, equivalent to 931 people.

Shelter’s analysis, which is the most comprehensive overview of recorded homelessness by local authority area, shows 1 in 595 people in Yorkshire and the Humber are now experiencing homelessness.

Over 382,000 people are homeless in England today, including 175,025 children. This means that one in every 153 people are now homeless.

The government’s plan aims to get the country back on track to tackling homelessness. But Shelter is urging it to help the families who are homeless right now by ending the freeze on housing benefit. This would immediately lift thousands of children out of temporary accommodation and into a home.

While we campaign for meaningful change, our frontline services will continue to provide direct support to those facing homelessness this winter and beyond. Your readers can join us in the fight to end the housing emergency by donating to our urgent appeal at www.shelter.org.uk/winterappeal

Sarah Elliott, Shelter CEO

Old Street, London