The Future of Our Hospital

To the Bracknell Standard.
From David Young, 9 Haywood, Bracknell. Tel 01344 456489.

I congratulate the Bracknell Standard on its campaign about our local hospital at Heatherwood but I am shocked that so few people have felt able to sign the petition that asks the Prime Minister to protect the future of the Hospital and not to allow any further deterioration there. I suppose this lack of interest by residents means they will be happy to travel further for important medical services.

In fact I hear the Primary Care Trust has already taken note of this apathy and is planning to close the Stroke Unit at Heatherwood in December. Stroke patients who can get to a hospital quickly have a much better chance of survival so I urge readers to sign the petition without further delay. Our MP has signed it, so have lots of councillors and doctors. It is at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Heatherwood

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.
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Post Office Closures

From David Young, 9 Haywood, Bracknell. Tel 01344 456489.

It is ridiculous. Last year the head of the Post Office, Adam Crozier, received a salary of £1.1 million, a £300,000 bonus and had a hefty sum paid into his pension too. And what were his decisions that deserved a total package approaching £2 million for one year's work?

He decided to initiate yet another round of closures of much needed local post offices, cut the last collection of the day (so most post boxes are now emptied in mid afternoon) and abolish Sunday collections. Why does the Government allow the rich to get richer in this way?

I call for the introduction of higher taxation of such mega rich individuals and for the nationalisation of the Post Office to prevent further degradation of the lives of ordinary people.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Council Tax Discount

I note the report in last week's Bracknell Standard that the Council Tax Discount for homes empty in Bracknell is to be cut from the normal 50% discount, to 10% after the first six months. I applaud our Council for this gesture but why not go the whole way? Under the Local Government Act 2003 the Council could have decided to cut the discount to nothing. I call for this to be done next year.

An opportunity has been missed for residents to pay less council tax. It is a pity that the Labour Government has not developed the proposal that dwellings empty for a long period should attract double council tax to induce owners to vacate their property to help reduce the housing shortage.

Houses empty for many months cause major offence to the thousands of local residents who are waiting for affordable housing. Most will have been on the Council waiting list for a long time. They want to move into their own home rather than stay with in-laws or friends or pay rents they can barely afford to a private landlord without security of tenure. So, in economic terms, it's a matter of increasing the supply of affordable housing to reduce the demand.

Poorly paid key workers in particular are badly affected whether they are policemen and women, teachers, council staff, firefighters, healthworkers or other professions. They have been harmed by the sale of council housing that has been encouraged by both Conservative and Labour governments over the last 20 years.

Our population is increasing as people live longer. Some families split up due to financial pressure. Thus more homes are needed. Now our Council should do more to provide additional affordable housing, particularly on brown field sites.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Heathrow Terminal

"Terminal 5 may not be the last". So said a headline in last week's Bracknell News but I believe that an expansion in air travel is a luxury that our planet cannot afford. Even ignoring the harm that greenhouse gases are doing to the upper atmosphere by contributing to climate change, airline travel is just too cheap. Unlike other forms of travel (e.g. trains, cars, coaches and buses), airlines pay no tax or duty on fuel. They are exempt from the climate change levy too. They are also excluded from international schemes for controlling carbon emissions. We must have a level playing field for all forms of transport that emit carbon. The sharpest instrument for cutting pollution is a tax on polluters and this must include taxing airline fuel. Then taxes can be cut on less harmful activities or public transport subsidised. But back to Heathrow Terminal 6 (and the third runway too) surely by the time these are built, further improvements in teleconferencing will lessen the need for business travel and, as for leisure travellers, global warming will mean that we will be taking our holidays in UK. David Young, the Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.