New Milton Advertiser 1st Jan 2021

14 · Friday 1st January 2021

news@adt.press · advertising@adt.press · 01425 613384

Letters

Write to news@adt.press with your phone number and full address, which can be withheld from publication on request. Letters may be edited. Reader’s photo experience of over 50 years as regular visitors to the Beaulieu airfield. Dr R. Sharman, Chair, Beaulieu Model Flying Club high tide mark is from sin- gle-use packaging. Water bot- tles, food trays, yoghurt pots pile up on the beach where they break into fragments to be picked over by confused sea birds who suffer indigestion and much worse.

Time to make stock more visible SIR – Once again we have front page news (A&T, 18th December) of the tragic looked at by the verderers, but the Animal Act 2007 (mu-

matches NHS staff, porters, postmen/women, police men/ women and refuse collectors. It seems logical to me that they should be eligible for the vaccination in line with NHS staff at the earliest possibility. David Hutt, Sway Overcoming drugs prejudice SIR – The reaction of your correspondents to the proposal to set up drug rooms in Lym- ington (A&T, 18th December), a safe environment for drug us- ers, was predictable and based on common false premises. The so-called war on drugs is an expensive folly which can never be won. No matter the level of enforcement or the penalties imposed on users and dealers, the supply of drugs will continue. And the reason is demand. Just as the 13 years of pro- hibition in the United States provided opportunities for organised crime to flourish, our present strategies only serve to make the suppliers rich while actually increasing demand. Ban any act or substance is to make it desirable and sustain demand and price. Any anthropologist will tell you there has never been a culture that did not use alcohol or drugs recreationally. Logically, the vast drug-pro- ducing areas of the world would not be sustained by what we term junkies. The majority of consumers of both class A and class B drugs are otherwise law-abiding citizens who use drugs as others use alcohol. As with alcohol, some in- dividuals become dependent while others light a joint or do a line or two for pleasure as At the moment it is a one- way street: always the driver, never the owner. John Walsh, Address supplied tilation) states that ponies and donkeys cannot have these. My own view is that ear tags are more advantageous than collars for visibility and I see no reason why an experi- ment could not be conducted on cattle as tagging is al- lowed; the reason being that they are a farmed animal. If the results were success- ful, there is good reason for the Animal Act to be modi- fied accordingly, but at the moment there seems to be little appetite to pursue this avenue. Whilst everyone tinkers around the edges and refuses to make their animals more visible, the problem will re- main with us, and drivers will automatically take the blame whatever the reason. It is all down to perception rather than fact.

Bins will not boost recycling SIR – Having lived in several areas that use wheelie bins I can confirm that it will not necessarily increase recycling and people will still use plastic bags in their indoor bins, so will not necessarily reduce plastic. I can also confirm that the people that still work will put their bins out but they will be left outside all day, an invita- tion to burglars letting them know who’s out all day! These bins are unsightly and cause neighbour problems as they are often housed in the wrong place, in open view and often in front gardens for those who do not have side access. Older people will not need huge bins, they will struggle with them, and if you have a shingle driveway you cannot drag them over the shingle. Finally, if the council are be- ing honest and do not put the waste into landfill but say they burn it and sell the energy it produces to the national grid, then surely that’s a good thing. Why would using a wheelie bin make any difference to waste or recycling? I don’t believe it does. Councils can use recycled bags, they can still burn it. The cost and home storage of bins, so as not to upset your neighbours, is very important! Name and address supplied Teachers must be vaccinated SIR – May I ask why, whenever a list of vital/key workers is used to illustrate their invalua- ble work during this pandemic, teachers are so rarely men- tioned? Surely their contribution deaths of our Forest animals – this time three donkeys all involved in the same incident. Once again we hear the cry: “Drivers, slow down,” when at time of writing no evidence had been produced publicly to say that the driver of the sympathy for the owners of these animals, I cannot help thinking that there is a lack of will to make their charges more visible in darkness or low light, preferring to blame drivers for all ills. It has be- come a well-worn record. One must realise that at this time of year one may just as well say the animals are camouflaged. Reflective collars are available to all pony and donkey owners free of charge, but although there has been a small improvement in take-up, they do carry some disadvantages. I have suggested high-viz ear tags which have been vehicle was speeding. Whereas I have every

different varieties. The Psalms are a great resource of prayers and poems for all occasions: joy, sorrow, thanksgiving, despair. The first Psalm, Psalm 1, has a great image of a tree: “Those who delight is in the ways of the Lord, and who meditate on his ways day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” God pictures us as trees. If we think about how much joy we get from looking at a tree we can picture just how much joy God gets from looking at each one of us. As you can imagine, I greatly enjoyed my visit to the Blackwater Arboretum. Gift Aid winter fuel donations SIR – Further to your recent correspondent’s suggestion that “us comfortably-off oldies” consider donating their Winter Fuel Payment to those who are really struggling (Letters, 18th December), then why not consider Gift Aiding your donation? As long as you are a taxpayer then your chosen charity can reclaim the tax that you have already paid on the amount you donate. So, for example, your £100 donation suddenly becomes worth £125 to the charity. Most charities have an online dona- tion process these days, so it is as simple as ticking a box. Richard King, Bashley We must move to ‘zero waste’ SIR – New Forest District Council’s plans for improving the efficiency of our local do- mestic waste disposal are to be commended. Our local council has been one of the worst for managing recyclable waste. The New Forest sees only 34% of its rub- bish recycled when many other areas have managed over 60%. The new proposals currently being debated may be unpopu- lar for some but they will have the advantage of avoiding the current confusion of messag- es householders face about what can be recycled, and should help ensure many more plastics, aluminium and drinks cartons get taken away and sorted to avoid landfill. Any stroller walking along one of our shores will no- tice that much of the plastic washed up and sitting at the

Before lockdown an art group met in our church hall. People with no experience could join and the teacher would often ask beginners to start by drawing a tree. Those initial artworks growing and blos- soming were signs of hope of future prowess. I came across a charity based in Tonbridge called Tree of Hope. It offers medical and therapeutic help to the families of seriously ill and disabled children. The children are pictured as the trees being helped to flourish. Through these difficult times, where hope is now on the horizon, may we find those signs of hope and know the delight that God takes in each one of us. Rev. Andrew Jablonski All Saints Church, Mudeford Despite the enormity of the international task, we can all do our bit and act locally. It is good to see some local green- grocers adopting simple paper bags for packaging vegetables. Supermarkets too should be moving to use more degrada- ble paper-based products for their packaging. They should certainly stop using non-recy- clable plastics. But our council could do much to move one step further and join the national campaign towards a ‘zero waste’ packag- ing economy, as other coun- tries are doing. Our ever flowing river of rubbish into British-based landfill is no longer sustaina- ble. Shipping it to developing countries is no longer accept- able. Incineration adds global warming carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Yet there are solutions. Friends of the Earth and other national campaigners have long pointed the way to a zero-waste society in which a 100% recycling will be the norm. That will mean a con- certed effort by industry as well as householders – much more biodegradable packaging and easily recycled plastics. Perhaps NFDC, with its responsibility for a uniquely beautiful and protected forest and sea environment, could go one step further in its review of waste management practices. It could not only catch up with other councils but, by working with national organ- isations, supermarkets and manufacturers, aim to reduce the waste they impose on us all and help cut the huge expense we carry in carting away so much plastic from our bins in the first place. B. Collins, Keyhaven

Amanda Merivale captured this sunset scene at Hurst Spit. Please send your photos to news@adt.press

seem to me to be signs of hope for the future and are always such a joy just to look at, and the fruit and blossom are a bonus. So this Christmas my wife and I bought each other a tree to plant in the garden (plus, of course, the neces- sary bag of horse manure. I did think about wrapping the horse manure). Mine is a crab apple – we al- ways like to make crab apple cheese and Anne’s is a cook- ing apple tree. Both are said to have beautiful blossom. However, first some Leylandii had to go to make room. My name, ‘Jablonski’ means ‘apple tree orchard’, so the presents are even more meaningful. Trees have great No mention of Covid in ban SIR – I refer to the item ‘Pan- demic blamed for club restric- tion’ (A&T, 25th December). As the point of contact between the Beaulieu Model Flying Club and Forestry Eng- land, I can say that it has never been suggested to me that any restrictions to be imposed on us are due to dealing with Covid. Of course, if that is the case then we would expect such restrictions to be completely removed once the Covid pan- demic is over. It has been suggested by FE that the restrictions which have been mentioned are to protect bird-nesting behav- iour in the bird-nesting season which we might be disturbing. No evidence for this accusation has ever been offered. Studies of the effect of model aircraft on birds both here in England and in other coun- tries, France and Germany sug- gest that model flying is likely to be beneficial to the birds, deterring other predators. That is consistent with our

others might have a few beers, mix a stiff gin or pour a dram of an evening. Legalising, controlling or licensing drugs is a very com- plex and controversial issue, but for now it is a good and brave thing that a councillor should propose something that will save lives, as proven in other enlightened towns and cities where safe environments and clean needles have been provided for decades, with the approval of the police forces whose officers can bear witness to the many tragedies of those who die through overdoses, poisoning by unscrupulous dealers, or contaminated sy- ringes and needles. The bottom line is a per- centage of those who become dependent will die. But some given help and support, others will learn to control use or cease using. I wish the councillor success in overcoming ignorance and prejudice. Rod England, Barton Musical cheers in high street SIR – Small groups of six players from Lymington Town Band have been playing in a Covid-secure way in Lymington High Street and at Everton in December. We hope that everyone has enjoyed the Christmas music that we have played. Thank you to everyone who put some money in our collection boxes. It has helped us raise some funds in a year during which we have been un- able to perform any paid public performances. We look forward to 2021 and hope that we will be able to put on public performances again. Frank Weller, Lymington Town Band secretary, Hythe Brownfield push for new housing SIR – I write in total agreement with Pam Reynolds, regarding the lack of necessary affordable

housing in rural areas (A&T, 18th December). However, we hear that Robert Jenrick MP, secre- tary of state for housing, has promised 1-million new homes in England by the end of this parliament. Worryingly, if we relinquish planning regula- tions as he proposes, Jenrick’s Planning For The Future white paper will have carte blanche for a ‘zonal’ planning strategy, promising developers automat- ic planning permission on ‘land Protection of Rural England rightly suggests that existing brown field sites should be a priority in any Local Plan, and could possibly accommodate approximately 1.3-million new homes in order to meet government’s ambition to build 300,000 homes each year. Apparently, there is already planning permission in place for 565,564 brown field sites. These areas should be the government’s top priority for affordable housing. This policy would inject new life into many of our towns and villages that may be in need of regen- eration. We are constantly hearing (quite rightly) that we should place more emphasis on recy- cling, so this should certainly apply to parliament in order to adopt a policy of recycling our brown field sites, before allowing developers to rip up hedgerows, pull out more trees, and build on the green belt land which is so vital for our wellbeing, not to mention our tourist trade. Who wants to come on holi- day here, only to travel around areas full of housing estates? I suggest that it’s becoming increasingly obvious that wher- ever homes are built, prices are continuing to rise, especially in beautiful areas like the south. This is evident as demand grows with urban-to-rural migration. Therefore government should concentrate on develop- ing new homes on old sites for our younger population. Fran Cossey, Hordle designated for growth’. The Campaign for the

Christian Comment LIKE most people, I love planting a new tree – well, particularly fruit trees. They significance in the Bible and appear throughout, from Gen- esis to Revelation in many

Local press three times more trusted than social media

Three quarters of people (74%) trust the information they read in their local paper in print or online. Only 22% trust local news they read on social media platforms.

Local press in print and digital (74 per cent) is the most trusted source for local news and information, ahead of local commercial TV and local commercial radio (both 73 per cent), search engines (43 per cent), social media (22 per cent) and other websites (39 per cent). (YouGov 2018 commissioned by Local Media Works).

Local press

Local Commercial TV

Local Commercial Radio

Search Engines

Other Websites

Social Media

www.localmediauk.org