St George and the Dragon

9:40am Monday 28th April 2008

SO the proprietors of Pepper & Oz now cast themselves (along with the people of Malvern) as St George, and the planners and councillors of Malvern Hills District Council as the dragon, following the outcome of the latest round of the purple parasol saga. (Malvern Gazette, Your Letters, April 25) Well of course everyone is entitled to their view. But, hang on a minute is not the one half of team St George the same Pete Brown who, until recently donning his apron at Pepper & Oz, was himself a senior council official (dragon?) as head of waste management at the County Council - making and implementing all the many rules and constraints on what the good citizens might and might not do with their rubbish and recycling? He, of all entrepreneurs, ought to understand and respect the important role that public regulatory bodies like council planning departments and English Heritage play in protecting and enhancing the quality of life and character of places like Malvern.

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Hospital plans

9:15am Friday 25th April 2008

WE are currently being consulted on what we would like our long awaited, new hospital to look like. I believe that this is a red herring, and that we should be looking at the wider context. The two most obvious questions are, will it be large enough, and is it even being built in the right location?

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Flower baskets

11:04am Wednesday 23rd April 2008

I WAS dismayed to read about the discontinuation of the flower baskets in Priory Park, surely the parks department grew all the plants as they do for the flower beds.

Council questions

12:14pm Tuesday 22nd April 2008

SO, Councillor Cheeseman thinks we should all be eternally grateful to "our democratically elected council" for overturning the decision to remove the Belle Vue trees (Your Letters, April 11). What a hypocrite. This was the man who advocated their removal in the first instance.

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Colwall bridge

11:47am Tuesday 22nd April 2008

I FIND myself unable to express my reaction to the proposed solution to Colwall's bridge problem (Malvern Gazette, April 18). As for the pathetic arguments put forward to support this solution, I ...

Rubbish dumping

11:14am Tuesday 22nd April 2008

FOLLOWING your recent headline coverage of criticisms by Cllr Martin Eager (Living like Town Pigs, AprIL 11 and 18) regarding the dumping of litter in Lawnside Road and Masefield Close may I, through your publication, ask the "Self appointed Guardian of our Environment" to take equally as vociferous action against non-residents who see fit to blight our neighbourhood and reputation.

Pain restraint

9:34am Tuesday 22nd April 2008

IN the youth justice system in England and Wales, children and young people are being physically harmed by those responsible for looking after them. Government policy specifically permits the infliction of pain (such as a jab to the ribs, or the bending back of the thumb) and the use of potentially dangerous physical restraint- sometimes just to enforce "good order and discipline", for instance, if a child refuses to go to bed on time.

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Parasol decision

9:28am Tuesday 22nd April 2008

WE write following the decision by Malvern Hills District Council's Southern Area Development Committee's decision on Wednesday, April 16 to grant planning permission for our parasol after a 12 month battle.

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Tory promises

11:39am Monday 21st April 2008

MALVERN Hills electors remember that local tories pledged in their 2007 election manifesto that: "Improving community safety is and will remain one of our highest priorities".

Street collection

11:10am Monday 21st April 2008

THE local Save the Children branch in Malvern is celebrating Save the Children week from April 27 to May 3 by having a street collection on Saturday, May 3.

Council example to us all

11:00am Monday 21st April 2008

CHIEF executive Chris Bocock is rightly anxious that Malvern Hills should set a good example to the United States, India and China by curbing the CO2 emissions generated by watering flowering baskets in Priory Park. Here are some other measures he might like to consider.

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Plastic bags

10:54am Monday 21st April 2008

I VISITED Malvern recently and I was pleased to see the plastic bag campaign is working very well.

Council excuse

10:19am Monday 21st April 2008

IT IS hardly surprising that the members of Malvern in Bloom and the Chairman of the Town Council were 'amazed and amused' to hear that the reason for not providing hanging baskets in Priory Park was so that Malvern Hills District Council could make 'very significant reductions in its emissions'. Whilst it is a highly commendable aim, it is such a shame that the Council fails to be consistent in its approach and cannot find alternative ways of watering the flowers, such as using the water from the pond which is next to the bandstand.

Arts funding

10:17am Monday 21st April 2008

I UNDERSTAND that Malvern Hills District Council is proposing to cut the grant to Malvern Theatres by some £40,000. I should like to point out that in the Conservative Manifesto, pledge four, they said they would, and I quote "Continue to support our theatres and the local arts groups and users, such as Autumn in Malvern, The Elgar Society and Malvern Theatres players." Reducing the budget by such a sum is a very strange way of showing continued support.

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Unexpected fireworks

9:24am Friday 18th April 2008

FOLLOWING yet another torchlight search for my terrified cat on Saturday evening, will anyone planning a firework display have the courtesy to inform the residents living in the vicinity of The Lamb and the Outdoor Centre beforehand.

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Hospital design

12:48pm Wednesday 16th April 2008

ON the strength of your images, it seems clear Malvern's new hospital will be an entirely inoffensive exercise in post-modernism and, as such, better than most other new buildings in our town. With a few notable exceptions, almost all are timid recreations of the past: just look, for example, at the bland blocks of repro flats that litter Graham Road. It's strange that a town whose biggest employer since 1942 has been Europe's largest technology organisation should display such instinctive conservatism when it comes to architecture. How interesting, too, that the one institution prepared to take a risk in this field is a school for young ladies founded in the 19th Century. As Malvern Girls' College, it commissioned the innovative Duke of Edinburgh Dome (which employed novel construction techniques and which is rightly being considered for listing), while the new Malvern St. James' nearly-finished sports hall seems set to be one of Malvern's few truly 21st Century structures.

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Run for Hospice

12:38pm Wednesday 16th April 2008

YOU may have watched the London Marathon, and been amazed by the commitment and hard work demonstrated by each runner.

Expression of gratitude

2:08pm Tuesday 15th April 2008

MAY I through your columns express my gratitude to those people who came to my aid when I tripped and fell in the busy Worcester Road on Tuesday, April 8.

Parking discs

10:56am Tuesday 15th April 2008

I FIND that non-residents parking discs for Malvern are no longer available. I shall now be parking in the street, adding to congestion, and will be less likely to pop into Malvern to do shopping. And the council will not be getting the fee for the disc. Sounds to me like another case of councillors knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.

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Hospital plans and trees

10:03am Tuesday 15th April 2008

I AM sure that other readers will have spotted the inconsistencies in the proposed hospital plans and timetable, but just in case they haven't, after 30 years of waiting the period for "public engagement" is 30 days.

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