Police resources I AM totally in support of Merseyside police but I do need to question the deployment of their resources. Last Thursday I needed to travel from Aigburth to the Stanley Road area. Just past Mersey Road going into Liverpool there were a couple of police vehicles and at least three policemen, one holding a speed camera. Going out of town along Great Howard Street there were another two or three police vehicles and four policemen, one again holding a speed camera. A couple of hundred yards further along on the other side of the road were more police vehicles and policemen, one holding a speed camera. I conducted my business and an hour or so later I travelled back along the same route. All three positions were still manned by the police. If there is a speeding problem, wouldn’t it be far more efficient and cost effective to have permanent speed cameras in place? George Downey, Allerton
Support to residents I AM writing to give my full and on-going support to the residents of the Lisleholme and Leyfield Road area in their campaign against the proposed Surestart at Blackmoor Park infants' school. As I said at the planning committee meeting, there are many major concerns, particularly about traffic problems in the area. Leyfield Road is on a bus route and has already had a 20mph speed restriction placed on it following traffic accidents. At peak school times, traffic volume is near to its maximum capacity and this will become even worse if these plans go ahead. Although this Surestart is intended for residents of West Derby ward, the proposed building will be in Yew Tree ward which means that it fails to meet one of its main objectives: To be within "pram pushing" distance of the service users. The plans include the use of Lisleholme Road for construction vehicles, for a period of many months. This narrow residential road is again completely unsuitable for this purpose. For all of these reasons, I agree with previous ECHO letter writers that the former Margaret Beavan school site is a much more suitable location and has the advantage of a wider access road at Almonds Green. John Prince, Yew Tree Labour Party campaign team
Peace and quiet IT is a disgrace the way the city council is treating the residents of Lisleholme Road and district – overriding anybody who objects to their plans. It only takes two vehicles to park opposite each other in the Court Roads or Lisleholme area (off the kerb), and going to work on the bus which has been advocated, and the whole of West Derby will be at a standstill. In Lisleholme Road alone there are 15 OAPs who will have to suffer the noise and disturbance when all we want is peace and quiet in our latter years. Did we fight a war to be treated like this? Eric Holt, Ex-Bomber Command
Community use IN response to Cllr Paul Clein's letter (ECHO, Oct 20), call me cynical but in my opinion the Tiber Street situation is simply another example of the council copping out of its responsibility to our community. Yes it is great that the site has been gifted to a community organisation, but this allowed the council to not have to provide a council funded service on the site. It is unfair to expect the Greenhouse project, which had no funds to develop the site when it was “gifted”, to have to beg, steal and borrow to get the site back into community use. If the council was serious about a community service on the site to replace the school, they would be providing the funding, or at the very least would have provided real support and assistance, so that almost a decade after the school was closed we would still not be sitting on a derelict site. The £175,000+ wasted on plans to drain a dock for a one-off concert could have been spent on bringing Tiber Street back into use. Laurence Westgaph, L8
Madness then and now IT is a rare privilege to be attacked in the letters page of the ECHO by both Warren Bradley (Oct 17) and Tony Mulhearn (Oct 20). Both object to my comparison between Militant's mismanagement of the council's finances in the 80s and the Liberal Democrats today. Both believed that the government would dig them out of a hole of their own making. It was madness in the 80s to think that Margaret Thatcher would rescue Militant. It is even more unlikely to expect Gordon Brown to rescue Warren. In contrast to the 80s, the Labour government has invested massively in Liverpool – in education, health, regeneration and the Capital of Culture. The Lib Dems pledged to find £20m from Liverpool in the original bid for European Capital of Culture. They failed to budget for it and now try to blame somebody else. When will Warren and the Liberal Democrats accept they are responsible for the city they are supposed to be running? Cllr Steve Munby, Labour Spokesperson Housing and Neighbourhood Services
Short points
REGAR-DING England’s Rugby World Cup try, not given. Why do we need touch judges if they can’t give an accurate decision and have to refer to a TV ref? John Morris, Liverpool
IT is petty of Royal Mail managers to refuse the postmen overtime to clear the mail backlog. They are not concerned about the customer. Mr M Griffiths, Wallasey
WHY in the 21st century do we still have to travel to Manchester to experience the proper gay scene? Surely in this day and age we should have a "pink" zone in Liverpool? Then we can enjoy ourselves in our own city. Richard Buxton and Wayne Norman, L25
RE: Disgraced: The postie who stole 18,000 packages (ECHO, Oct 20). Apparently crime does pay. I lost a job contract due to missing post in 2004. Then in 2006 it took seven months to re-instate my Incapacity Benefit after it was stopped because I received no letters from the Benefit Agency. It took seven months to have my Housing Benefit re-instated because the council did not receive recorded mail sent after the first month of Housing Benefit being refused. I live in Toxteth and was probably just one of thousands of victims, yet this man gets only eight months jail for causing so much misery to so many and in a position of public trust! P Woodward, Toxteth
CONGRATULATIONS to Merseyside Police, Fire Service and whoever else is responsible for the lack of fireworks this year. Normally from September on we have to suffer nightly with loud fireworks going off every night. Let us hope this continues after November 5. Well done everyone. F Hurst, Anfield | 
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