Readers’ Letters: No value for money for taxpayers

Regarding the Tritax Big Box scheme set to deliver 100s of new jobs on the A17 near the Curry's distribution centre, it sounds interesting, but what, if any, thought has been given to the current chaotic/volume of traffic trying to traverse that area from early morning to mid evening.

I would suggest none. It is yet another badly thought out idea.

Then we have another hare-brained scheme of a Sainsburys on Northgate where traffic is generally high volume, and customers of B&Q and M&S struggle to get off the Maltings Retail Park back on to Northgate.

Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to put up a ‘turn left only’ sign. Great idea, but where do those exiting the area who want to go right actually get somewhere to turnaround. Lights or a mini-roundabout were requested but got a firm no.

We have a lovely town which is dying, and not all that slowly.

We have insurmountable problems in the railway and the River Trent. The fantastic amount of traffic does not do the “green debate” any favours.

Maybe instead of messing about with statues they should aim to become more efficient and aim to cut out totally any ‘folly’, because that is the way I see much of what they do.

When reading what the councils/public sector authorise — either buying or agreeing to — in this day and age, the sums mentioned almost always are in the high hundreds or thousands of pounds, for example, the £½m required to repair the swimming pool in Southwell.

In the 1990s I was attending an event with a colleague who introduced me to a friend who was a councillor in West Yorkshire. He said councils were not allowed to incorporate a no inflation clause in their projects. The lowest quote gets the job and increased costs arise a few weeks later. Does this still apply?

I have been watching progress of our old M&S store conversion. To me, a bystander, a lot of money has no doubt been spent so far but there seems little progress.

Everything any council or government does is done by using money stolen, in the name of taxes from the public and business sector. It is not well managed by any degree.

I suppose it would be prudent to ask if we are getting value? I would venture no. — Brian Clark, Balderton