NEWS CHANNEL
Published: 15/09/2010 10:31 -
Updated: 15/09/2010 10:35
SIR - It seems that the approach of removing road signs has been used with some success in Germany reducing average speed and accidents. The idea seems to be gathering momentum.
In a Wiltshire village where white lines were removed from the road last year there has been a drop-off of about third in accidents and a reduction in average speed.
I would like to see Milton Keynes Council adopt an experimental program so that we could monitor the results, at the end of the day anything that could make our towns like Newport, Bletchley and Stony safer would be welcome.
Cllr Alan Mallyon
Sent by e-mail
SIR -Yes there are definitely too many signs and posts. In some parts of the city it's difficult to navigate the pavements for signs and posts; in other parts post erectors seem to have been in competition with each other erecting one sign in front of another. As council's love their bureaucracy so much there should be a compulsory 128 point business case completed before a new post can be erected, that would slow them down or make them think about using existing posts!
Richard Hughes
sent by i-phone
SIR - I am a motorcyclist and as such I am very anti to any unnecessary roadside trash.
If you are unfortunate enough to come off your bike (for whatever reason) the last thing you need is to hit a signpost (possibly saying things like "Think Bike" get the irony in that).
Don't get me wrong some signage is of course necessary, and getting road users to "Think Bike" is a good idea, but why use solid signage to advertise shops on roundabouts.
I think that any unnecessary items of obstruction should be removed. that would include signs, trees, bushes, lamp post and even the shrines to lost loved ones. As I said the last thing you need is to hit something as you slide the backside out of your leathers.
David Kettleboro
sent by email
SIR - I find the newspaper front cover an outrage stating that firemen missed the bodies of the mother and child.
The truth is that it was too dangerous for firefighters to reach them after one firefighter was hospitalised. I can understand why the crews withdrew from the building.
i think that people think firefighters are super human, firefighters do all they can to save a savable life.
Tom Hunter
sent by email
SIR - I wholeheartedly support Chris Simpson’s letter about the outrageous situation Trevor Leech and Vanda Joss find themselves in as trustees of Milton Keynes Sports Club (MK NEWS Sept 1).
This is one of our city’s major sports facilities which football, hockey, cricket and tennis lovers have used for decades. It has a vibrant life.
Has our society become so litigious that before you volunteer your services you need to seek legal advice?
How will the coalition government effect its aims to encourage us, the public, to volunteer enthusiastically and bind our communities when there are potential consequences like this?
There is a contradiction here in supposedly trying to cut wasteful public expenditure on the one hand, and the huge cost of embarking on questionable legal action on the other.
One might reasonably ask why MK Council has taken such a heavy-handed course of action when, at the end of the day, there is a first class facility that has to be run.
All the hours of legal wrangling will not improve the management of the facility. Could not the Council use their/our money more positively to work out a solution with MKSC? Perhaps fund a business consultant to restructure its finances.
The personal cost for the trustees as they sit this debacle out is huge. If they lose, then I strongly endorse the suggestion by Chris Simpson that MK NEWS sets up a fund to ease what will be serious financial hardship for Trevor and Vanda.
Come on MK Council, have you lost all sense of humanity!
Val Roche
Pattison Lane
Woolstone
SIR - Shelter’s new survey reveals that 9 out of 10 Environmental Health Officers claim that tenants are experiencing poor living standards, harassment or illegal eviction as a result of rogue landlords.
The private rented sector in Milton Keynes will provide a substantial quota of housing provision over the coming years, and with the number of homeowners unwittingly becoming ‘default landlords’ in a bid to save their home from repossession, could lead to a breeding ground of rogue landlords in our area.
There are currently over 800 private landlords in Milton Keynes, [NOT including landlords who use a letting agent to manage their property.]
Shelter wants rogue landlords to be brought to justice; with a zero tolerance approach by local councils; giving courts the ability to ban rogue landlords from being a landlord; and a greater transparency to enable the public to hold local councillors to account if they aren’t successful in tackling rogue landlords.
Even celebrity Stephen Fry is ‘twittering’ that he is supporting Shelters campaign, but the one thing I don’t hear is the call for the education of landlords and tenants or the provision of workshops to enable landlords to develop professionally.
Were any of us taught at school our ‘rights and responsibilities’ as a home owner, landlord or tenant? NO? Then is it any wonder that rogue landlords AND rogue tenants exist?
Surely, part of the answer is to educate us all on our responsibilities in whichever ‘housing’ situation we are in, this would naturally eradicate the very being of rogue landlords and tenants in the 1st place? Housing Law is complex but it isn’t impossible to learn the fundamentals’, indeed, it is very empowering...to all. This way, landlords and tenants ‘police’ themselves to keep a balance, so councils and courts can act when ‘rogues’ are highlighted as a result.
At Houseflys, we are planning free workshops over the coming months to enable MK’s private rented sector to grow in confidence over the coming years., We would like to invite your readers, whether a landlord or tenant to our 3rd free workshop on ‘The Possession Procedure’, Tuesday 21st September, 6.30pm-8.30pm at MK Snap, Walnut Tree, Milton Keynes.
Guest Speaker, Toyin Ero-Davidson from MK Legal Solicitors will go through the possession procedure to enable landlords to understand their legal obligations to ensure a successful possession of their property; whilst encouraging tenants to feel confident in their rights to challenge any illegal eviction should they ever need to in future.
Jana O’Flynn-Mundin,
Co-founder www.houseflys.co.uk
Local resident and tenant
In a Wiltshire village where white lines were removed from the road last year there has been a drop-off of about third in accidents and a reduction in average speed.
I would like to see Milton Keynes Council adopt an experimental program so that we could monitor the results, at the end of the day anything that could make our towns like Newport, Bletchley and Stony safer would be welcome.
Cllr Alan Mallyon
Sent by e-mail
SIR -Yes there are definitely too many signs and posts. In some parts of the city it's difficult to navigate the pavements for signs and posts; in other parts post erectors seem to have been in competition with each other erecting one sign in front of another. As council's love their bureaucracy so much there should be a compulsory 128 point business case completed before a new post can be erected, that would slow them down or make them think about using existing posts!
Richard Hughes
sent by i-phone
SIR - I am a motorcyclist and as such I am very anti to any unnecessary roadside trash.
If you are unfortunate enough to come off your bike (for whatever reason) the last thing you need is to hit a signpost (possibly saying things like "Think Bike" get the irony in that).
Don't get me wrong some signage is of course necessary, and getting road users to "Think Bike" is a good idea, but why use solid signage to advertise shops on roundabouts.
I think that any unnecessary items of obstruction should be removed. that would include signs, trees, bushes, lamp post and even the shrines to lost loved ones. As I said the last thing you need is to hit something as you slide the backside out of your leathers.
David Kettleboro
sent by email
SIR - I find the newspaper front cover an outrage stating that firemen missed the bodies of the mother and child.
The truth is that it was too dangerous for firefighters to reach them after one firefighter was hospitalised. I can understand why the crews withdrew from the building.
i think that people think firefighters are super human, firefighters do all they can to save a savable life.
Tom Hunter
sent by email
SIR - I wholeheartedly support Chris Simpson’s letter about the outrageous situation Trevor Leech and Vanda Joss find themselves in as trustees of Milton Keynes Sports Club (MK NEWS Sept 1).
This is one of our city’s major sports facilities which football, hockey, cricket and tennis lovers have used for decades. It has a vibrant life.
Has our society become so litigious that before you volunteer your services you need to seek legal advice?
How will the coalition government effect its aims to encourage us, the public, to volunteer enthusiastically and bind our communities when there are potential consequences like this?
There is a contradiction here in supposedly trying to cut wasteful public expenditure on the one hand, and the huge cost of embarking on questionable legal action on the other.
One might reasonably ask why MK Council has taken such a heavy-handed course of action when, at the end of the day, there is a first class facility that has to be run.
All the hours of legal wrangling will not improve the management of the facility. Could not the Council use their/our money more positively to work out a solution with MKSC? Perhaps fund a business consultant to restructure its finances.
The personal cost for the trustees as they sit this debacle out is huge. If they lose, then I strongly endorse the suggestion by Chris Simpson that MK NEWS sets up a fund to ease what will be serious financial hardship for Trevor and Vanda.
Come on MK Council, have you lost all sense of humanity!
Val Roche
Pattison Lane
Woolstone
SIR - Shelter’s new survey reveals that 9 out of 10 Environmental Health Officers claim that tenants are experiencing poor living standards, harassment or illegal eviction as a result of rogue landlords.
The private rented sector in Milton Keynes will provide a substantial quota of housing provision over the coming years, and with the number of homeowners unwittingly becoming ‘default landlords’ in a bid to save their home from repossession, could lead to a breeding ground of rogue landlords in our area.
There are currently over 800 private landlords in Milton Keynes, [NOT including landlords who use a letting agent to manage their property.]
Shelter wants rogue landlords to be brought to justice; with a zero tolerance approach by local councils; giving courts the ability to ban rogue landlords from being a landlord; and a greater transparency to enable the public to hold local councillors to account if they aren’t successful in tackling rogue landlords.
Even celebrity Stephen Fry is ‘twittering’ that he is supporting Shelters campaign, but the one thing I don’t hear is the call for the education of landlords and tenants or the provision of workshops to enable landlords to develop professionally.
Were any of us taught at school our ‘rights and responsibilities’ as a home owner, landlord or tenant? NO? Then is it any wonder that rogue landlords AND rogue tenants exist?
Surely, part of the answer is to educate us all on our responsibilities in whichever ‘housing’ situation we are in, this would naturally eradicate the very being of rogue landlords and tenants in the 1st place? Housing Law is complex but it isn’t impossible to learn the fundamentals’, indeed, it is very empowering...to all. This way, landlords and tenants ‘police’ themselves to keep a balance, so councils and courts can act when ‘rogues’ are highlighted as a result.
At Houseflys, we are planning free workshops over the coming months to enable MK’s private rented sector to grow in confidence over the coming years., We would like to invite your readers, whether a landlord or tenant to our 3rd free workshop on ‘The Possession Procedure’, Tuesday 21st September, 6.30pm-8.30pm at MK Snap, Walnut Tree, Milton Keynes.
Guest Speaker, Toyin Ero-Davidson from MK Legal Solicitors will go through the possession procedure to enable landlords to understand their legal obligations to ensure a successful possession of their property; whilst encouraging tenants to feel confident in their rights to challenge any illegal eviction should they ever need to in future.
Jana O’Flynn-Mundin,
Co-founder www.houseflys.co.uk
Local resident and tenant
