Letters to the Fenland Citizen editor: April 21, 2021
Fenland’s problem is just a pin prick
Congratulations to Coun Sam Hoy for successfully delivering the prestigious short term ‘Everyone In’ portfolio scheme to resolve homelessness across Fenland.
Now the short term scheme is ending in accordance with the restart of ‘Right to Eviction,’ the burden will yet again rest on the general populous, night shelters and food banks.
Homelessness is set to surge again without the necessary follow up support to the homeless people, who were previously removed from the streets.
They will find managing finances and paying off outstanding council tax and rent debts difficult.
Therefore they will now be evicted back out onto the streets again as landlords maximise their rents.
What Coun Hoy respectfully fails to understand is that the most hardened homeless people prefer a more free and transient lifestyle, avoiding paying council tax etc, only seeking a warm, dry bed in the autumn and winter months to keep out of the cold.
So despite finding some of the homeless this affordable accommodation, they never had any intention of staying there in the long term.
Interestingly, the Office for National Statistics states that homeless figures are actually nine times greater than the Goverment’s own estimate.
So what has happened in Fenland is just a pin prick to the wider problem of homelessness.
Mark Burton
Chatteris
Candidate’s claim is misleading
Simon King, a Conservative candidate standing for the Cambridgeshire County Council elections in May, recently sent a survey for residents of Roman Bank and Peckover to complete. I am concerned that a comment he wrote in his personal letter section could be misunderstood.
He states that he “made a deliberate decision not to claim any expenses from the County Council.”
I found this misleading because it gave me the impression that he is not being paid as a councillor. Whereas, you can see on the County Council website the allowance he has received each year.
For the year 2019-2020 it shows he received £14,064.96.
The expenses councillors claim in addition to the allowance is usually an insignificant amount.
In 2017 Coun King seconded a motion for 30% increase for councillors’ allowance which was against the independent panel’s recommendation.
In October 2018 Simon King appeared before Fenland District Council Conduct Committee to answer questions regarding his expense claims.
The case went against him and he was given a six month suspension by the Fenland Conservative group after he was found guilty of breaching the code of conduct with fraudulent expense claims.
It was not one fraudulent expense claim but numerous claims over a substantial period of time.
In the letter section he also says that because he is not a district councillor he can focus all his efforts on county council issues.
The reason he did not stand at the district elections in 2019 was to save his party “further embarrassment.”
Harold Williams-Rogers
via email
Don’t get tested if you don’t have symptoms
Regarding the headline ‘People urged to have tests.’ No they shouldn’t. Why are healthy people with no symptoms getting tested when they don’t need to?
The tests throw up too many false/positives cases, therefore inflating the figures and keeping us in lockdown.
The article goes on to say twice-weekly rapid testing is a vital tool in identifying cases of Covid-19 that would otherwise be missed, with one in three people showing no symptoms and potentially spreading it without knowing it. Not true. The truth is people with no symptoms do not spread the disease (especially if we’re all wearing masks) and never have.
In all the history of respiratory-borne viruses of any type, asymptomatic transmission has never been the driver of outbreaks. The driver of outbreaks is always a symptomatic person.
So people please, if you have no symptoms, don’t get tested. The sooner the so-called cases go down, the sooner we get out of this mess and get back to living a normal life.
Eddie King
Elm
EDITOR: These are Mr King’s opinions and not those of the Fenland Citizen, which adheres to Government advice on this subject.
Where is the man in charge?
You published a picture of the Chatteris Pocket Park Group. I recognise MP Stephen Barclay, Chatteris Town Council secretary Joanna Melton, Coun Julie Smith, Museum curator Ian Mason, Robert Reed from the King Edward Centre and Kath and Colin Silvester.
But where is the man in charge of the pocket park, town councillor Mr Carney?
Caroline Pearson
Chatteris
