Viewpoint: 'Green and pleasant land' facing calamity

‘Green and pleasant land’ facing calamity

Like most of us, I will shortly be going to a local farm shop to pick up my Christmas turkey and at this time I am always reminded, not that I need reminding, how important farming is to this country.

I understand we grow 60 per cent of the food we eat and there is nothing more important than farming and the safety of our food supply.

Farming is a hard, full-time, skilled and dedicated job. Farming skills are learned over many years of practice and passed down from one generation to the next.

The question is, why is our present Government going out of its way to actively pursue a policy of destroying our family farms? It is obvious farmers have to invest in capital expensive agricultural machinery such as tractors and combine harvesters, all of which would be subject to inheritance tax. This would make it difficult if not impossible to inherit, thus potentially breaking a chain of decades of knowledge and expertise.

What the Government is doing is quite unnecessary — it either knows nothing about farming or just doesn’t care.

Again, under this Government we are gradually losing the protection of the greenbelt throughout the country.

The five principles of protecting the greenbelt are stealthily being eroded. Men and women throughout the ages who have fought in our wars have always had that inspiration of returning to England’s ‘green and pleasant land’.

If Ed Miliband has his way to achieve his unnecessary and absurd net zero target, our countryside will be covered with ugly solar panels, transmission stations and pylons.

The UK, I understand, produces only one per cent of carbon emissions so why are we bankrupting ourselves and ruining our countryside at the same time.

Miliband calls it Green Energy, it is anything but green — it is industrialising our countryside on a vast scale and must be stopped. I hope our relatively new MPs for Windsor and Maidenhead will do their best to stop this calamity happening.

Cllr Leo Walters

Bray Conservatives

Does plan sound death knell for town centre?

I note in the article (Approval for £500million Nicholsons scheme, November 28) it states that there will be 856 flats, none are affordable! Along with 55 shops and commercial units.

To date I note there does not seem to be any movement in WH Smith (now TGJones) moving to the High Street. Is this going to be another loss of the post office service?

There does appear to be a plan for even more restaurants. Do we really need more? What we need is shops that will attract people back into Maidenhead, to name a few: Next, Marks & Spencer (in anticipation of this one closing) New Look and Zara.

I also note that following the refurbishment of the Wilko store, this has been split into three units, and Sports Direct have applied to do the same thing, so there will be very few units left, if any, that could take a decent sized store.

Can anyone tell me what shops have applied to take up these 55 units, when we have so many unoccupied already?

It is expected the centre will be closed early in the new year. Can I ask what toilet facilities will be in place for us older members of the public who need the loo a little more often than our younger members?

Now, we have the centre public toilets, Marks & Spencer and possibly McDonalds. Is the council going to encourage other smaller units and all these restaurants to open their facilities to us all? I doubt it.

So, another reason to avoid the town centre.

RIP Maidenhead Town centre.

Paul Digby

Maidenhead

It comes down to old saying ‘buyer beware’

I am not really surprised the property dwellers around the waste transfer station are complaining about noise and smells etcetera.

What I am surprised at is that they bought a property on this new development with an established waste transfer station right next door.

Not to mention a sewage works also next door.

Your chances of removing either of these essential services is about as good as my chances of going to the moon.

Surely it comes down to the old saying ‘buyer beware’.

E Shepherd

Longmead

Windsor

Call for judicial review into studio approval

The Marlow Society — the Civic society of Marlow and surrounding villages — is pledged to support Marlow’s future.

To this end, we were astonished to see that the application to develop on the side of the A404 at Westhorpe was given the green light — both by the planning inspector and Whitehall.

This decision has severe long-lasting consequences for everyone who lives in the area. Traffic delays will be the norm as the lengthy construction starts and water and air pollution will rise.

We are pragmatic and deal with the essential facts. We are not dreamers.

Dreamers promise thousands of jobs and a glossy future. The applicant is an offshore registered property developer — not a film studio company. Nothing wrong with that, but how secure is their vision?

The members of our society voted against this; the people of Marlow voted against it in the parish poll. Buckinghamshire Council saw the folly in it and voted against it. In fact, all local parties (those that would be affected) made their point as was also evidenced by the comments on the planning portal.

Our greenbelt will be severely diminished and never return. We will not give up just yet. We urge Buckinghamshire Council to seek a judicial review.

Richard Parker

Andrew Wood

Co-Chairs – The Marlow Society

Do we want this kind of Bobbi on the beat?

Evenin’ all. I was proceeding through the Maidenhead Advertiser last week when I came upon a small item on page 13 about a new Thames Valley Police call initiative.

I thought ‘Ello, ello, ello what’s all this ere then?’ Apparently, Thames Valley Police will be using that ‘A One’ or some new-fangled tech to deal with calls to 101. I’m sure you’re aware that 101 is the official non-emergency number to call the police, whereas 999 is the unofficial non-emergency number…or something like that?

He or she is appropriately non-binary and called ‘Bobbi’ — no, I didn’t make that up. Being a lover of The Sweeny, I think I would have called him or her ‘Jack’, as in ‘Get yer trousers on my son, you’re nicked!’ But never mind, times change…don’t they?

The ‘force’ says that ‘Bobbi’ will interact like a human. So, presumably it will constantly advise callers not to be abusive, will get bored, eat doughnuts and will usually end up saying ‘There’s nothing we can do about that, sir/madam’?

It also says Bobbi will let you type in questions and get replies, much like having a simple conversation online. It says Bobbi will answer frequently asked non-emergency questions that come into the police force.

So, I guess it will have an answer to ‘Why the hell do we never see a copper anymore?’ Or ‘What exactly is it that you do all day?’ Those sort of questions.

But it does say that if Bobbi is unable to help, you’ll still be able to talk to a real person — just not a real police person.

Malcolm Stretten

Riverside

Answers wanted over MP’s print spending

Recent Parliamentary records show that Maidenhead MP Joshua Reynolds claimed a total of £1,396.80 in public expenses, over multiple claims, for design and printing work purchased from MDM Creative, a business co-owned by councillor and deputy mayor Siân Martin and another local Liberal Democrat activist who has previously stood for election in Maidenhead.

Whatever the technicalities, this is a highly questionable use of taxpayer money, especially given the direct political links between the MP and the business owners.

According to IPSA (the independent body that regulates MPs’ expenses), no declaration, explanation, or value-for-money evidence was submitted alongside these claims — despite the supplier being politically connected.

IPSA’s rules and principles require MPs to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, and to be able to demonstrate that public funds are being spent transparently and objectively. At best this shows shockingly poor judgment. At worst, it creates the unmistakable impression that public money is being used to favour political allies. At a time when the budget will hit us hard, this shows how out of touch councillor Joshua Reynolds MP really is.

To recap, first he hired the council leader to work under him in Parliament. Now we learn taxpayer-funded contracts were awarded to fellow party members. This isn’t what integrity in public office looks like. He started badly, and now he continues as he set out.

Together, these decisions form an increasingly troubling pattern where public funding and public roles appear repeatedly to circulate within Mr Reynolds’ own political circle. His judgement shown falls far short of what residents expect — and deserve.

The people of Maidenhead are entitled to a clear public explanation and an apology for this deeply concerning use of public money.

Marius Gilmore

White Waltham

Prescient fears of tech making us dumber

I read an article (redacted from a longer article in the Guardian) in The Week recently (November 8 edition) entitled ‘Brain rot: is tech making us dumber?’

According to research, yes, it is — IQ scores in many developed countries appear to be declining. How worrying is that?

From time to time I dip into Collins Gem Dictionary of Quotations (first published in 1961) and came across this one the other day: Emerson, Ralph Waldo 1803-1882, wrote in Society and Solitude, Works and Days: “The machine unmakes the man. Now that the machine is so perfect, the engineer is nobody.”

Prescient, or what? I found that interesting — perhaps others won’t …

Jane Belton

Westwood Green

Cookham