Cash is not enough to stop flood risk

THE news that Southend Council has agreed to seek £410 million to protect our part of Essex from rapid sea level rise is welcome but people should be under no illusion that this will save low lying property for long.

Due to our action the earth is now 1.2 degrees warmer, but the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet, melting both sea ice and the Greenland icesheet.

Many scientists researching the icesheets warn we could expect sea level rise of around eight feet over the next 80 years but others think we may get lucky, with only one or two feet of sea level rise. But we don’t know yet.

What we do know is that sea level rise is accelerating and £410 million won’t keep back the water for long. Business and house builders need to plan and ought to work on the basis that anything new should have a 200 year lifespan; which means all new buildings must be at least 20 feet above the current highest high tide mark.

Within the next 30 years everything at or below sea level will be uninsurable, with absolutely no business continuity.

For me the saddest thing is that 30 years ago the politicians knew this would happen but, to this day, many continue to fight to expand polluting industries.

JON FULLER

Group Coordinator

South East Essex

Friends of the Earth Martyns Grove, Westcliff

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New hotel plan is just a joke, surely?

I HAD to check the date to make sure it wasn’t April 1 when I read the article regarding the Wetherspoon proposals for a 60-bed hotel in their “little used car park” at the Elms in the Echo.

Like a number of my friends, we have been using the pub for the best part of 50 years and nowadays one of the main concerns when we arrange to meet, depending on whose turn it is to drive is will we be able to park in the car park or anywhere nearby.

Last Friday evening, being my turn to drive, I had to wait a short while at the car park entrance and was fortunate that a car left and I could park as otherwise the carpark was full.

There are a number of “free” parking places along the London Road near the pub but there are also other businesses including restaurants, which means they too are often at a premium.

And the “1200 pay to park spaces within a 30-minute walk” – what planet does the applicant live on ?

I am aware of a few pay to park car park.

Then of course the “within a 30-minute walk”. Who in their right mind is going to visit a pub that entails an hour’s round trip of walking to/from the “1200 parking places “ wherever they may be, to say nothing of the issue of time of year and weather.

Nobody, is the short answer.

Still not sure if it isn’t an April Fool’s day prank!

MIKE HANSFORD

Blenheim Chase

Leigh

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Thank you to NHS staff at hospital

I WOULD like to thank the ambulance and the paramedics, the doctors and the nurses who took care of me in the at Southend Hospital. They were first class.

FRANCIS GREEN Bailey Road Leigh Thanks for looking after my husband I WOULD like to thank a young couple who helped my husband outside Iceland, Southend, recently.

He had fallen over and they rang for an ambulance and stayed with him until the paramedics arrived.

Staff outside Iceland came to his aid and many people were concerned but thankfully the medic treated him well and he was able to get home.

Thank you everyone who helped him.

Mrs I EVERETT

Cheddar Avenue

Westcliff

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What is the plan for our public parks?

THE Council has budgeted £100,000 to conduct a feasibility study and options appraisal on our borough’s public parks.

So what exactly are they up to, because they are certainly up to something.

Furthermore the complete lack of any public statement regarding this would indicate that whatever options they are studying and appraising at a huge cost of £100,000, it’s something that they don’t want the public hearing about until it is a done deal.

We are feed up with having to live with the consequences of decisions made on our behalf, with our money and without our knowledge.

This is our town, it does not belong to the council.

We are demanding answers from Southend Borough Council, what are your plans for our public parks?

The SKIPP Committee

PATSY LINK, SHEENA WALKER, MARK SHARP

Beechmont Gardens, Southend

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Shame to hear park has gone downhill

I WAS shocked to read about Southchurch Hall Park being used for drugs etc (Echo, March 12).

As a child back in the Fifties and Sixties, I spent many happy hours in this lovely park in complete safety.

To read of this unruly usage of it now is appalling. Well done to all responsible for cleaning it up.

TERRY MERRISON

Craylands Basildon