I have just bought a house in the area after working and living here, in digs, for eight months.

Anyone can find fault with any town, but generally I find Wisbech perfectly acceptable.

I have moved from Market Harborough, a similar-sized market town that is considered to be the jewel of Leicestershire.

Yet I have seen less evidence of violence, graffiti and discarded rubbish in Wisbech than in Harborough.

The facilities and attractions in Wisbech are far superior to Harborough – shops, leisure, architecture, river, free parking and public transport.

Wisbech is surrounded by lovely, unique countryside, is near the coast and has the exciting waterfront development in prospect.

Yes, there are imperfections, such as pigeon mess in the Horse Fair and chewing gum in the streets.

But these problems exist in Harborough and every other town centre I have visited. It is a nationwide social problem – idiots who feed pigeons and encourage their presence and inconsiderate louts who spit out their gum wherever they fancy.

As far as driving habits are concerned, they are no better or worse here than anywhere else.

I have found drivers courteous and there is none of the congestion there is in places such as Poole in Dorset – a nightmare town but probably adored by your correspondents who are expatriate southern-coasters.

By all means lobby Fenland Council for more improvements – but don't knock the town.

I was raised in Luton, the grim industrial northern town accidentally built in the south. If you had lived there you would think Wisbech is heaven.

Brad Field,
Elm.


I won't be returning to Wisbech

Re: Run down Wisbech.

I must compliment C.Lee and Mr Paul Reitman, the two people who wrote to Public Platform on May 24.

I must agree with them 100% I have travelled and lived in places all over Britain and never had the misfortune to see such ignorance and lack of courtesy from the local community as I have in Wisbech where I have lived for six years.

I have only made two good friends (also outsiders). I have rented my house in Wisbech out and will not be returning except to sell my property.

E. B. Thomas,
Wisbech, via e-mail.


Action welcomed

I WAS pleased to read in the May 24 Wisbech edition of the Citizen police are taking action against people who park cars bearing "for sale" notices on the grass verges in Churchill Road.

I have, for some time now, urged Cambs County Council, FDC and the police to stamp out this practice. It is illegal to offer two or more cars for sale on the highway and within a certain distance from each other. The problem is not confined to Churchill Road.

Indeed, I have had several complaints from constituents that cars are damaging the grass. Although the number of cars for sale on one piece of grass is increasing, two councils have rejected my suggestion that they surround the area with a low fence on the grounds that there must be access for the mowing machine.

I trust the police will extend their activities to other parts of Wisbech.

Coun Lloyd Forster,
Waterlees Road,
Wisbech.


Do they need these spikes?

Visiting the Horsefair in Wisbech on Saturday, I was disgusted to see a young bird struggling on the spikes over one of the shops.

I rang the local rescue 'Woodlands' who told me that birds cannot get stuck on them. Well this bird was well and truly stuck.

The shop in question was going to have a look and then ring the Horsefair manager. I can only hope that this bird was released from its suffering.

Why on earth have these contraptions been installed? Fenland Council and Horsefair Centre need to act and get them removed.

GOREFIELD READER,
via e-mail,
name and address supplied.


Incident could have been avoided

In response to the front page article (Wisbech edition) of Wednesday, May 24.

I take it the mum not only wants to be rehoused and doesn't want a house but a bungalow, because although the upstairs wouldn't be quite so high, it would still have the risk of an unsupervised toddler falling out of a window.

Stairgates may restrict movement around the flat, but at the end of the day what is more important – a safe environment for her children or the possibility of another potentially fatal accident?

The councils are overstretched as it is without those on the waiting list using avoidable incidents to move them up the list.

John Keller,
via e-mail,
full address supplied.


Cameras not the answer to road's safety problems

I am sure that installing speed cameras along the Forty Foot will slow the traffic, but I do not believe that this will in itself resolve the problem of the dangerous state of the road.

There is no doubt in my mind that in poor weather conditions, some vehicles travelling possibly well within the speed limit will be likely to skid on the smooth surface of the road.

If those in the vehicle are unlucky, the vehicle will leave the road altogether as there is no kerb at all along the road and on long stretches there is not even an earth bank.

If they are very unlucky, the vehicle will go into the water. If this happens, and if the occupants of the vehicles have not already managed to get themselves detached from their seat belts and in a position to exit, they will almost certainly die.

Once in the water the pressure of the water will almost certainly stop the doors opening and the water will prevent the electrically operated windows opening.

So far as I can see it's only the fortunate and fit that stand any chance at all of getting out alive. I am not trying to be melodramatic, just realistic.

I just ask readers to consider the fate of those poor people who have lost their lives in recent months and ask themselves if the county council has come up with the best possible solution for the safety of the men, women and children using the road daily.

Christine Colbert,
Pound Road,
Chatteris.


Putting cameras in focus...

It was an icy foggy night along the Forty Foot. Visibility was bad, and 20 mph was all I could manage in my three-year-old family estate.

I came up behind a tractor. It had no lights on except for an amber flashing one, obscured by the big trailer on the back which was shedding potatoes every time the tractor veered from one side of the road to the other.

Another car came up behind me, sidelights glowing and the driver on his mobile phone. Accelerating to 35 mph, he moved out to pass me but, as he did so, an untaxed uninsured car with only one light working came the other way.

Panic set in, and the overtaking car cut back in, clipping my front and pushing me off the ungritted road. My car missed the one bit of vegetation that could have saved me, a solitary hedge growing out of the bank.

The water was dark. Inky black. As I tumbled towards it I said a silent prayer.

The emergency services were all tied up at yet another accident near Hobbs Lot bridge on the A141, but I wasn't worried.

Sure enough, within two minutes of coming off the road, the Cambs County Council rescue helicopter appeared above me.

On 24 hour call and funded entirely by the fines generated by the new speed cameras at either end of the road, the helicopter plucked me from the water before I even got my feet wet.

Who says speed cameras don't save lives?

Mike Farmer,
March,
via e-mail