Last updated 14:20, Sunday, 18 May 2008

LET US be grateful that Allerdale planning does not live in the same cloud cuckoo land that those on Cockermouth Town Council seemed to be inhabiting when they recommended refusal of the building of affordable housing on the old market depot site.

There are some town councillors who, together with their unelected and unrepresentative partners, seem to think spending in excess of £1.2m on paving and artwork in Market Place is more welcome than providing affordable homes for the young men and women of the town while, at the same time, raising their portion of the council tax above the rate of inflation for no other reason than ‘just in case’ when the rest of us are having tighten our belts.

The same ones, no doubt, that will be happy that the Sullart Street depot site is, I understand, destined for homes for the over 55s even though it denies an opportunity for young people to get affordable accommodation and is, quite simply, driving them away.

The same ones who don’t seem bothered that after many months the matter of a skate park for the kids of the town is still under consultation.

The same ones who don’t realise the bottleneck they have created in Market Place, which diverts more traffic on to the badly planned one-way system.

Perhaps, as they ponder the end of their parish year, some of them would do well to remember that, according to the Allerdale Corporate Plan 2007-12, the priorities for the town are skills and education, transport and housing and in the next year they will begin to support developments that meet the needs of those people they are supposed to represent.

ASHLEY TIFFEN
Sunscales Avenue
Cockermouth