SIR – Why is it when in Worcester plans are put forward to build a new supermarket or houses on green belt land it’s quickly approved? When plans are put forward for a new football pitch in Worcester it takes forever.
As it said in Worcester News the Worcester football club is dying so it’s about time the councillors pulled their fingers out and approved a new pitch at Perdiswell.
Spending money to go to Kidderminster is ridiculous. Worcester fans should have their own ground.
I think after all the years at St George’s Lane they deserve to have their football played in our own city. I think it’s such a shame that people are proud of Worcester City yet cannot watch the home team play here, just because of a few protesters who probably don’t like football anyway. 
Think of the future for all the young people who would benefit from training and playing at the new ground. I’m sure it would encourage more young lads to play. They could also use it to keep young people off the streets by giving them something to look forward to.
CAROLE ROBERTS
Worcester


Vital that our steel industry is salvaged  
SIR – If Britain loses its ability to manufacture steel, then it loses the ability to produce ships, tanks, cars, trains and domestic goods.
We will have to depend on importing all our steel and coal, we will be at the mercy of potential enemies, unable to produce arms, or even canned food.
It’s bad enough we have sourced the world looking for cheap labour, now we are allowing China to dump cheap steel on us.
Should anything happen to cheap steel then we will be a right mess. Our government must do more to save our steel industry, and the jobs it provides. Or does David Cameron think a country of 65 million and growing can survive on tourism?
If Mr Cameron can provide £20 million on teaching Muslims to speak English then he can surely do more to save our steel.
GB DIPPER
Leominster

End needs to be put to increasing council tax
SIR – Tom Edwards reported in the Worcester News on January 29 that Worcestershire County Council will soon vote on a council tax rise of nearly four per cent, adding around £42 to the average band D bill.
He also reported that the government expects councils to increase council tax by nearly four per cent for each of the following four years. I recall Conservative councillors at a Worcester City Council meeting criticising the previous administration for suggesting an increase of less than 2%, which would have amounted to much less than £42. 
How is repeatedly increasing council tax going to help ‘hard-working families’? Why haven’t local councillors done more to campaign against the cuts that are leading to council tax increases? 
At another Worcester City Council meeting on February 25 2014, I proposed a motion calling on the government to support the Robin Hood tax – a financial transaction tax that could ‘reverse on-going shrinkage in central grants to Worcester City Council’.
Indeed, it could reverse cuts to the County Council too. 
However, to quote Leona Helmsley, it sometimes seems that ‘only the little people pay taxes’. Perhaps ‘the little people’ will demand an end to cuts and paying more for less.
NEIL LAURENSON
Green Party Councillor for St Stephen ward


PM needs to stick to guns over waiving VAT
SIR – The EU wants to end British VAT exemption on food, medicine and children’s clothing EU officials say;  it is not part of a regulation by the European Commission.  
David Cameron has pledged to resist plans by EU to bar Britain from waiving VAT on these items.   
A senior EU official Pierre Moscovic insists that Britain’s “zero rate” VAT is “not the best idea” not being part of a  Commission regulation.  
Mr Cameron will be in Brussels on Friday for talks with Commission President Monsieur Jean-Claude-Junker three weeks before an EU summit when he hopes to strike a deal on EU reforms before calling the referendum. 
I am sure we all wish Mr. Cameron well in his attempts to secure reforms yet somehow many of us doubt that Monsieur J-C-J et al truly intend to renegotiate with any genuine intention to concede a single iota.
WENDY HANDS
Upton-upon-Severn

Shock at assault on homeless person
SIR – We all read and were shocked of seeing a young homeless person being kicked by two men after having a night out, as if he wasn’t suffering enough.
If he had been a refugee he would have probably have been put up in a hotel or B&B. 
When these thugs are caught what they should do is put them in a ring with two kickboxers and see how they like having their head kicked in. 
The law is too soft now. They’ll probably get a slap on the wrist. In the Victorian days you could get six months for stealing 1/6 about 7 1/2p.
A McDONALD
Worcester

Thanks for excellent care over the years
SIR – Since the age of 13, I’ve had excellent care in both Worcester and Birmingham hospitals.
Thanks to all concerned.
GEORGE COWLEY
Worcester