SO PLANNING officials in Lancashire have recommended approval of Cuadrilla’s fracking bid.

The experience of fracking-related earthquakes, extensive in Oklahoma (Letters, June 1), also in Ohio (Letters, June 9) and Texas, should serve as a warning.

I have viewed video footage of Queensland, Australia, and the countryside has been extensively damaged by clearance for hundreds of fracking sites, and you need a lot for shale gas, as in the UK.

You also need to run numerous pipelines and build access roads.

Film footage shows gas and oily pollution bubbling into local rivers, which will reach the population sources further downstream in due course.

Residents complain of a continuous brown haze covering the area, again due to fracking. This haze is toxic. Elevated levels of radioactivity have been measured in residents bedrooms.

Gas workers drink bottled water, as local water supplies have become polluted.

The message from the Queensland Aussies to the UK is spelt out: “Don’t let this happen to you.”

David Cameron’s edict that fracking companies no longer need to carry out public consultation shows contempt for us.

The banal reassurances from his cabinet are an attempt to make a new status quo.

All above board, then?

Chris Clayton, Hempland Drive, York

 

I READ with interest the article regarding the sale of the Aviva offices in Rougier Street (The Press, June 16).

As a teenager, I worked for the Yorkshire Insurance Company in St Helen’s Square (now Harpers) when those offices were being built.

I believe the name changed to Norwich Union and then Aviva.

At that time we sold standalone pedal cycle policies and the company, in its wisdom, decided to increase the premiums at renewal from 15 shillings (75p) to £1.10 shillings (£1.50).

Needless to say, a great many policies were lapsed at renewal.

But I do remember one letter in particular from a client who was extremely angry at the increase, and the last paragraph of his letter read “no wonder you can afford to build that mausoleum in Rougier Street”.

Jenny Hilton, Holgate Lodge Drive, Holgate, York

 

RE: TADCASTER Road and The Mount bus lane (The Press, June 8).

I read with interest the article about fining motorists for using the bus lane to drive up The Mount.

So I undertook a straw poll while travelling into York on June 12 and 13.

Day one: joined the happy throng at the bottom of the hill. It took four light changes to pass through the junction. Twelve cars went up the inside and all of them turned into Driffield Terrace.

Day two: three light changes, six cars passed on the inside, five turned up Driffield Terrace and one carried on and turned right onto Dalton Terrace.

During this time a similar number of buses and taxis used the lane and none of them were inconvenienced.

My observations are: that cars using the inside reduce the length of the queue; Driffield Terrace is a rat run and it would be better to turn at the top of the hill.

Waiting in the queue and then turning at right angles into Driffield Terrace is dangerous because of the traffic coming up on the inside. What we need is not more proscription but some common sense.

Let traffic use the inside to turn left; it does not inconvenience either buses or taxis.

Peter Turner, Whin Road, Dringhouses, York

 

WHY should MPs get a pay rise?

What about cleaners, doctors, nurses and other working people?

They should all get paid a lot more money.

MPs don’t deserve to get a pay rise.

Catherine Devey, Wandales Close, Malton

 

IN REPLY to A P Cox (Letters, June 12), I wish to point out that I do not have a secret method and have never sent my letters to Annette Harrison personally.

The editor of The Press reserves the right to edit all letters.

My advice is stick to the rules and you will more than likely get the majority of your letters printed.

Terry Smith, Fourth Avenue, Heworth, York