'Why I oppose the stadium plan'

SIR- As a ward councillor for St Stephen Ward I fully support the planning committee recommendation to refuse the application (for a stadium at Perdiswell) against the Deputy Director of Economic and Planning recommendation that the planning committee be minded to grant planning permission.

The Deputy Director must have had concerns to the application to impose 50 odd planning conditions together with a Section 106 legal agreement with 5 conditions.

 There are national and local planning policies which clearly leads to a conclusion that the application should be refused.

I refer to the Regional Planning Policy Framework,  a national planning document.  One of the policies, Item 123,  bullet point 4 - Identify and protect areas of tranquillity which have remained relatively undisturbed by noise and are prized for their recreational and amenity value.

This says it all.

This precious public green open space which the stadium will be built on is demonstrably special and unique to the local and wider community and holds a particular local significance and must be retained for the future.

Councillor Gareth Jones

St Stephen Ward

'No stadium is city disgrace'

SIR - I have to agree with Dave Bradley, it is a disgrace that Worcester is without a football stadium.

Even Kidderminster, not the county city, has one.

Why is this?  There is no problem with an ever expanding rugby, cricket, swimming, basket ball clubs.

Whilst I have a pen in my hand I should like to congratulate Mr Bradley on his excellent weekly column. Its always entertaining and informative.  A pleasure to read , an example of brilliant local comment and opinion.  Let’s have more like this,and less of the griping that fills some of your column inches.

Mrs C Garner

Worcester

'A thousand thank yous'

SIR - A thank you letter. On March 16th while walking at the top of Rainbow Hill I unfortunately collapsed and sustained serious injuries when my head struck the pavement.

These injuries included a fractured skull and a broken neck.

I am now well on the way to recovery thanks to all those who assisted me, those who attended me after my fall and called an ambulance,the ambulance crew, the surgeons ,doctors, nurses and staff at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

A thousand thanks to you all.

Mr A T Lambert

Worcester

'Will they live to regret it?'

SIR - To all Conservative voters.

Please don’t ever complain if you cannot get the help you require from the NHS because there are insufficient nurses, doctors or hospital beds.

If you need the Fire Brigade during the night or at weekends and our much-reduced Fire Service is too busy to attend you, don’t you dare criticise.

When the crime rate increases or there is another terror attack and the Police are too stretched to save lives, don’t say that things could have been done differently.

When our armed forces personnel are demoralised and feel devalued, don’t say that it has nothing to do with you.

When you need the support of local government agencies and support services and you find that they have been cut, don’t feel hard done by.

You voted for these Worcestershire MPs: Harriet Baldwin, Nigel Huddleston and Robin Walker, and they cheerfully voted against Labour’s amendment to remove the cap on public sector pay after a seven-year freeze.

Next time a Conservative minister praises the excellent efforts of our services in times of crisis, DO remember the hypocrisy.

Ms R Miller

St Johns

'Vegans don’t understand'

SIR - As sponsor of the Three Shires Cattle Trophy at Hanbury Show, I write to respond to Mr Roux’s letter (WN, 27th June).

It is true cattle are put to death, of course. One way or another, all animals die in the end.

But, having supervised the slaughter of cattle myself, I can assure your readers they are killed in the most humane way imaginable.

They are stunned with a bolt to the head and know nothing more about it.

If my own death were as quick and painless, I should be grateful.

Contrary to mistaken and outdated ideas, milk is a nutritious and health-giving food.

Rearing cattle enables food production from land unsuitable for cereals, and provides a habitat for wild species that need grassland.

The barn owl, for one, would be extinct without it.

Farmed grassland also provides a carbon sink, helping to limit climate change.

Important as these things are, the chief reason for our sponsorship is to support farmers.

Vegans will not understand this, but they love their animals.

Why else would they farm?

And they take great pride in them, as visitors to Hanbury Show can see for themselves.

D. J. Renney, BVetMed, MRCVS

Nimrod Veterinary Products Ltd, Moreton-in-Marsh

'Fragmented health service'

SIR - It is not difficult to sympathise with Mike Hemming (Letters, 27.6.’17) over his concern and confusion about being referred by Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust to a private hospital in Newport, South Wales, for his endoscopy.

We do not have details of these particular arrangements.

However, I feel confident enough to offer a (possibly wild, but not uneducated) guess about why this has happened.

The more that health services are outsourced, privatised and commercialised, the more fragmented they are becoming.

It is a matter of tendering and contracts.

If the price and availability are right, the inconvenience to the patient will always run the risk of being forgotten.

David Barlow

Worcester