We’re always happy to receive a ‘Letter to the Editor’ to share with our large online readership. If you have something you want to share, get in touch. Ed
From: Steven Goodman, Newport
I have just read the letters in the latest CP, and learned from the letter of the week that residents have bought and planted a tree to replace one killed two years 
ago by council contractors, who were presumably being paid to look after it, and who were not made to rectify their failure.
The council line seems to be that “the current economic climate” prevented any chance of replacement.
Does that mean that our council is content to take our money and give it to contractors who then do the opposite of what we pay them for, without penalty? If so, that makes the council’s alarming rush to privatise our road maintenance (also featured in the letters pages) even more undesirable (if that was possible).
Look after ourselves
Thank you residents, for reminding us that looking after ourselves whenever we can rather than relying on a damaging council and greedy and unprofessional contractors is not only possible, but desirable.
It follows that we will be entitled to keep more of our own money, rather than be effectively robbed by those responsible for our current predicament.
So, do enough of us like the idea of community orchards and farms for example? (I’m assuming that no-one would object to paying less tax “in the current economic climate”).
The council can’t complain
The council have been going on about Eco Island (also featured again in the paper) for years without doing anything (except harming the idea by removing cycle routes and the floating bridge from the PFI bid) so they are in no position to complain.
Then again, we could market the Island as an expensive to reach destination where drivers (and brave or foolish cyclists?) can burn expensive fuel enjoying our expensively surfaced roads (unless the “tree-killing” type of contractor is used, presumably leaving us with huge debts and the neglected surfaces we are familiar with), travelling perhaps between our many supermarkets (who seem to make good profits on the Island; maybe a car park levy would help us fill some potholes?), while avoiding our less appealing features, such as the expected increased poverty and crime, and the gaps left by council contractor’s tree care.
Image: New Mills Community Orchard by sindesign under CC BY 2.0
