Your letters on recycling centres, food hygiene ratings, assisted dying, solar panels the fun fair

Here’s the letters from the Lynn News of Friday, February 21, 2025…Numbers have reduced since new systemThe council has recently imposed a system to book your visit to the recycling centre before you attend. I have used the system twice since it started and on both occasions, there was a severe reduction in the numbers using the facilities. In fact my last visit was on a normally busy Saturday and I was the only vehicle there.The council state they introduced the system to reduce waiting times and trade waste. Their only success is to reduce accessibility, especially for those who are not computer literate or elderly, thereby reducing the numbers. The staff told me that since the introduction of the system numbers have drastically reduced.It seems to be a paper exercise to benefit council number crunchers and cause the maximum inconvenience to the user.David Eardley via emailService and food are excellent at restaurant Hello I am contacting you regarding the special report by Lucy Carter.I am rather disappointed in the ratings Lucy gave to some of these establishments. I and a number of my friend enjoy eating out every weekend and sometimes midweek.I would be interested at how she arrived at her ratings? For instance at least on of the establishment mention in the report has to the best of my knowledge been closed for the last 12 months or so? One of our favourite restaurants is Lillies at Walsoken. We are frequent visitors to this establishment and fondly refer to it as our posh shed restaurant.We have been regulars there for the last five years. In all of that time we have never once been dissatisfied with the food nor the service.There have been constant changes and improvements such as recent new tables, new comfortable chairs and a very impressive digital fireplace, all of which make this a cosy and pleasant experience. The staff are not only very friendly but efficient too, meals quickly delivered to your table after your arrival.Now for the meals. As I have mentioned we go out every weekend and visit many of the establishments in your report. Lilies at Walpole in our opinion serves up one of the very best proper Sunday roasts you will find anywhere in the area. Not processed meat but proper meat roasted to perfection, proper roast potatoes, a choice of proper roast meats with all the trimmings plus a choice of freshly cooked vegetables. And a wide choice of desserts. We rate the choice of menus at Lilies to be probably the largest and best in the area.It is a great place to eat out and represents excellent value for money.As for your rating, well I suggest you enquire again and you will find the restaurant has a five star rating and is well earned.Therefore Lucy I challenge you to join me and my friends the next Sunday you are available and if you think that I have made a too bold a statement I will pay for your Sunday lunch. Dave Dennisvia emailEDITOR: It’s great that you enjoy this restaurant so much, which is why we are happy to publish your letter. However, as stated in the feature, the ratings are for hygiene and are supplied by West Norfolk Council. The one star (out of five) was issued on September 12, 2024 and still stands.They should let elections go ahead On January 7, Baroness Taylor, the Under-Secretary of State for Housing & Local Government stated: “A request to join the Devolution Priority Programme is an entirely separate matter from requesting to delay elections”.If (deputy prime minister) Angela Rayner or any of this government cared a jot about democracy, they should have let the elections go ahead and added a further voting slip to ask if the five million who will be affected by this latest plan at gerrymandering our elected representation, is something they agree with.Oh, but then why would she. Look what the great unwashed did over Brexit, they just can’t be trusted to give the answer the ‘powers that be’ want.I have a very strong feeling she is going to live to regret this undemocratic manoeuvre and won’t be surprised if the Reform Party doesn’t benefit from the support of a lot of very angry voters. José O’WareMethwoldThe truth is quite the oppositeI wonder where David Fleming (Viewpoint, February 7) is convinced the parliamentary committee scrutinising Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill is being held in secret, with the “public, journalists and parliamentary record keepers locked out”. I have never seen this claim mentioned before and a Google search for it came up empty.The committee’s business and debates are reported in national newspapers along with the campaign by opponents, inside and outside Parliament, to swamp the committee with more than 200 amendments in an attempt to stop the public from having this long-denied right to choose how they die.According to the House of Commons Leader, Lucy Powell MP, the truth is quite the opposite.She told parliament that Leadbeater, who chairs the hearings, has “taken the unprecedented step for a private members’ bill of hearing evidence from experts in public”. Philip WagstaffMethwoldFacts are exactly thatI write in response to Mr David Flemings letter (Friday, February 14) regarding solar farms and birds.Mr Flemming proclaims that he will be writing to the RSPB to detail his findings about house sparrow decline and deaths to birds due to solar farms.Well maybe I can spare him the time in writing as the RSPB issued a report in conjunction with The University Of Cambridge the very same week he wrote his letter.The report issued by the RSPB found that solar farms increase and indeed encourage biodiversity.As no petroleum based pesticides are sprayed over the land, it recovers. Insects, small mammals and birds that are drawn to the wildflower that grow all disagree with Mr Flemming’s absurd assumptions.In fact, the report states that solar farms managed with nature in mind and in areas with a greater mix of habitats proved the best performers, having the greatest variety of species and nearly three times as many birds compared to nearby arable farmland.The research, published in the journal Bird Study, took place in the East Anglian Fens and looked at two types of solar farms: those with a mix of habitats within the solar farm and those with a simpler associated habitat.Simple habitat was intensively managed, with no hedgerows along the boundaries and was constantly grazed by sheep. The mixed habitat solar farms had hedgerows around the edges, with no sheep grazing or grass cutting, leading to a greater diversity of flowering plants. Facts, Mr Flemming, are just that. Facts.Kevin HollandCEO, The Solar Nation Quality Installer Network, MagdalenIt baffles me how Mart gets away with lurid postersYet again The Mart is here, or do we call it a fun fair now? And yet again they have sent someone ahead of them to tie their quite lurid posters onto street furniture.There are instances of these posters on pedestrian railings all over the place. Every one is unlawfully placed.If The Mart wants to advertise it should do so legally and pay the cost, just the same as businesses in town pay to advertise. Why Norfolk County Council or the West Norfolk Council do not do something about it baffles me. It seems obvious that The Mart do it because they always get away with doing it.Gordon Eaglevia emailJohn Elson’s cartoonPicture of the Week