Letter: Why doesn’t New Forest NPA move to NFDC’s site?

I’m compelled to comment upon this week’s article ‘Future of council HQ under scrutiny’ (A&T 15th Sep).

The solution to vacant office space at the Lyndhurst HQ is obvious, and there is no need to pay £100k of taxpayers’ money which could be better spent on services.

A solution surely is to divide and refurbish the existing offices as required and relocate New Forest National Park Authority offices currently in Avenue Road Lymington

The NFNPA would then be located within the national park boundary.

The Avenue Road offices would be available for disposal for letting or development

Development could provide affordable housing under NFDC control in an ideal town location to the benefit of the community, which they say is desperately required.

All at no cost to the taxpayer.

Robert Young

Pilley

Potholes – don't you just hate them. Despite the fact that the government has given several millions of pounds extra to help councils with the backlog of repairs the problem grows.

Furthermore, the worry is and as far as I can tell, this money is not ringfenced and so the authorities do not have to spend it where it is intended

The weather certainly hasn't helped and I wait with baited breath to see how much more damage, because of the considerable extra weight of electric vehicles, will add to the problem. According to the latest Fleet news/RAC, 27,250 breakdowns nationwide were recorded involving pothole damage to vehicles and that was only in the last 12 months to June this year.

So what are the other contributing factors? Incompetence! I cannot believe that after all this time authorities are still clueless on how to do a decent repair to a pothole. Time and time again, one can see where a pothole has been filled in, only to find in some cases that another pothole has appeared weeks later, next to the one that has been repaired.

The quality of repair varies from contractor to contractor, but sadly far too many are just plugged with a chunk of tarmac and hardly flattened at all. Bigger ones can end up like a washboard.

The authorities must jump on these cowboys and a minimum standard set with inspections at the end of the day by someone who is qualified/competent. Having to return to the same repair time and time again is simply a waste of public money, something that Hampshire County Council and others are very good at in many areas and I for one object most strongly.

John F Walsh

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