Clearing the waters on pond debate

You recently reported on the discussions about Kings Pond at the last meeting of Alton Town Council on November 6. Unfortunately, you chose to highlight potential controversy without informing your readers of what prompted the discussion.

Alton Town Council has published a briefing document ‘Kings Pond - The Next Steps in Deciding the Way Forward’, which sets out two options for the future of the Kings Pond site. The first is dredging and reinstatement of the pond largely in its current form. The alternative is pond and river. The pond would be smaller, the River Wey would be reinstated and would flow past the pond instead of through it. In January last year, ATC committed to completing a technical and financial assessment of the dredging option. The council must now decide if a similar assessment of the pond and river option should be carried out at the same time. Much of the work to be done is the same for both options.

ATC has arranged public briefings to update residents on the work done since January last year, on what has been learnt and the reasoning behind the two options. The next is at 2pm on Tuesday, December 3 at Alton Social Bowls Club.

We are looking forward to discussion rather than simple repetition of entrenched opinions.

Don Hammond

Alton Town Councillor

Anstey Mill Lane

Alton

Heartfelt thanks as project ends

I would like to thank all the people who have generously supported the Alton Lions’ Club Wenceslas Project over the years that it has operated.

As you will be aware, the government has now terminated the winter fuel payments to pensioners. Therefore, Alton Lions will not be continuing with the Wenceslas Project. The project asked people who received the government winter fuel payment but did not need it to donate it through Alton Lions who, in conjunction with Citizens Advice, used it to help people who were suffering from fuel poverty.

Over the years that the project has operated, some £18,000 has been directed to over 90 families and individuals to help them overcome their fuel poverty difficulties. This has been a significant achievement for everyone involved and the folk in difficulty have always been appreciative of the help they received. There is an amount of money left over, which Alton Lions will use to help people in need and specially to overcome energy issues.

People finding themselves in fuel poverty can still approach Citizens Advice who have access to Government household support grants through Hampshire County Council.

John Mill

President

Alton Lions Club

Sir Keir yearns for socialist republic

Sir Keir Starmer has selected his cabinet of 40 MPs. It is dominated by 39 who were state-educated and just one from Labour’s much-hated private schools. None has any experience of business and his full complement of 118 ministers is believed to include a huge 98 who are members of a Trade Union.

The peculiar narrowness of their backgrounds resembles that of a cult rather than a broad-based government. It is probably the most fully biassed of any British government over the last 100 years.

Who will carry the flag for the inventive individuals who build the successful businesses upon which future growth depends? Certainly not Rachel Reeves who talks endlessly about a “growth economy” but her grasping hands will drive many to sell up and emigrate or take their ideas to friendlier climes.

Certainly not Angela Rayner, who will tie up businesses with the deadening regulations of the kind that has seen the economies of many of the European Union sliding rapidly downhill behind the rest of the world.

Kier Starmer is an admitted socialist with a capital “S”. I fear he secretly hopes to turn us into a socialist republic of the kind that he yearned for in his youth. The trade union leaders will love it.

John Littlewood

Castle Hill

Farnham

Think of the homeless this winter

This winter, more young people than ever before in the UK are facing the heartbreaking reality of homelessness. Record numbers are without a safe place to sleep, a warm meal, or the most basic security we often take for granted. Every day, over 350 young people become homeless. It’s a shocking statistic and one that demands our urgent attention.

As president of youth homelessness charity Depaul UK, I am reaching out to urge your readers to come together and make a difference this winter. Depaul UK is working tirelessly to help 16 to 25 year olds experiencing homelessness. Through the generosity of ordinary people, our trained Nightstop volunteers offer a spare room to young people in need, so they don’t sleep rough.

A warm welcome, a home-cooked meal, and a safe place to rest for the night – these small comforts make all the difference to a young person with nowhere to turn. But we cannot do it alone, and the charity needs more volunteers, and support to help us continue this work.

Let’s not turn our backs on these young people in need. Together, we can offer them hope and a safe place to sleep.

Sir Trevor McDonald

President

Depaul UK