REGARDING the proposed railway station site at Towthorpe Road, Haxby.

As I am waiting for a response from local Lib Dems, I attended the two open days at Haxby and Strensall.

Facts from the meeting regarding the proposed site on Towthorpe Road:

1. Building design is completely out of character of the open countryside

2. No staff to help aged, infirm and children after dark

3. No wheelchair access or ramp

4. No waiting room to shelter from the cold winds, fog, snow etc

5. Taxi drop off only

6. No telephone in case of emergency

7. No security carpark on station

8. Bus service for Strensall will need to negotiate 8ft road, no pavements and a z-bend on country road

9. No cost of parking and electric charge points

10. Light pollution (wildlife affected)

11. Busses to be subsidised as per number 14 but only run 1 hourly and no busses on Sundays

12. Considerable increase in workload for Strensall signalman

13. No road widening of Towthorpe Road (12 ft now)

14. Considerable increase in pollution, traffic and congestion for Towthorpe Road (house owners 50 per cent traffic increase)

15. Costs estimated three years ago £15 million? Now expected to be £50million. Footfall 25K per annum (480 per week, 68 per day)

16. Station operation to be done by train staff (luggage, wheelchairs, etc)

17. Train destinations or payments not known, no timetables

Meeting response as follows:

Strensall – Not interested, A64 to be upgraded

Haxby, Towthorpe Road – Station site too far out. Further destruction to the environment and increase in traffic. Concerns re: country road and environment

Wigginton – Station site too far out, would need two busses

This is it, the Lib Dems flagship is going slowly down!

Roland S Pearson

Towthorpe, Road

Haxby, York

Biannual MOTs? Are we getting a refund?

READING the news today, I found my excitement was increasing at a rate not dissimilar to the rapidly rocketing cost of living.

My intrigue was aroused by the latest ideas emanating from the department of preventing the starvation of the peasantry - could it really be true that the annual MOT test was to be changed to bi-annually?

Here was exciting news indeed, not that I was pleased by £50 a year I would now be saving, candidly, in my opinion this is a retrograde step in the endeavour to improve road safety, no indeed but I am presuming we will all be richly compensated for each and every, at least in HM Government's opinion, unnecessary MOT test we have all been paying for every other year.

Don't hold your breath. Mind you, bearing in mind the thousands of potential death traps soon to be rocketing round the roads, there's a good chance you won't have a lot of breath left to hold within a month or so.

Richard D Bowen,

Farrar Street

York

I can think of some more hypocrites

IT made me smile reading today's letters page and to see Messers Laverack and Deamer accusing City of York Council of hypocrisy for removing the freedom of the city from our dodgy Prince.

These are two of the Press's most prolific chuffers and chunterers , between them , constantly "chucking stones" at a wide range of targets through your letters pages.

Yes, there are plenty of hypocrites about!

Tony Eves,

Margaret Phillipson Court

York

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