Our readers from across the borough give their weekly take on the biggest issues impacting Gedling and beyond.
Join the debate by sending your letter to letters@gedlingeye.co.uk . Please put ‘Letters’ in the subject line. You can also submit a letter by filling in the simple form below, and it may appear online.
Some letters refer to past correspondence which can be found by clicking HERE
Names and addresses will be withheld by request but must be included in the email. We reserve the right to edit letters. Letters published do not reflect the views of Gedling Eye
Authorities need to crack down on ‘illegal’ e-scooters
Sir,
When are the authorities going to crack down on E-Scooters and E-Bikes?
They are illegal and are now like ants all over Arnold.
Streets, pavements, footpaths and even the town centre is inundated with them.
It’s bad enough we have cyclists ignoring every law and putting us in danger, now we have much faster more dangerous ‘vehicles’ endangering us. Enough is enough!
The police must take a stand and confiscate and destroy these illegal vehicles now. Do we really have to wait until someone is injured or killed for them to do their job?
L Watley,
Arnold
Pedestrianising Netherfield town centre wouldn’t work
Sir,
I write in reference to the suggestion by Ms Nesbit (‘Now time to pedestrianise Netherfield town centre – Readers’ Letters 13/06/24) that Netherfield is pedestrianised. This road is not a rat run. It was and still remains the main road through Netherfield even though some of it is one way. I use it a lot as a legitimate route from the Loop Road.
What is needed is an upgrade and installation of penguin crossings. Road safety was the subject of a petition to the County Council organised by Cllrs Hunt and Clarke, which so far has fallen on stony ground considering the lack of NCC’s response.
If the stretch of road described by Ms Nesbit is pedestrianised, it cuts the village in half. All traffic would be forced into the narrow and highly congested roads at the rear of the Coop.
Ms Nesbit wishes to encourage more cafes and bars to open. Netherfield has enough of those. We need shops that actually sell things – a difficult thing to have with the competition on the retail estate, but given the right product and promotion, it should be possible. If the owners of all those buildings cleared the grass from their guttering, the appearance would be improved.
I’m not sure what benefit a cosmopolitan vibe would achieve (whatever that is) but a more prosperous and lively commercial centre would be better.
Ruth Strong,
via comments
Better use for bin lorries
I had to laugh to myself when I read on your website that the council were adding sensors to bin lorries to identify mobile signal ‘non spots’ (‘Bin lorries used to identify mobile ‘non spots” – Gedling Eye 20/06/24).
May I suggest a better use: have them record the location of potholes.
Robert Flynn,
Arnold
Fines for missed NHS appointments are a non-starter
Sir,
I really hope the next government don’t have plans to introduce fines for missed NHS appointments – it simply wouldn’t be fair.
There are many instances of appointment letters being wrongly addressed or not sent. Many missed appointments are because the person is unwell on the day. Getting through to the surgery or hospital is too often a nightmare.
I have personal experience of missing a flu jab because I had a fever and not getting through to the surgery reception until after the appointment time. That is still on my records as a missed appointment, because changing the record is low priority.
Patients with mental health problems are often not sympathetically dealt with and they need encouragement to attend appointments, not a threat to their already-inadequate support.
Imagine the time and cost of administering these fines if you were actually to check on which missed appointments were legitimate or not?
Because patients are often waiting anyway, most missed appointments just reduce the length of the queue. The NHS needs both additional resources and much better quality of management to reduce its serious inefficiency.
J Reed
Ravenshead
