Your views on recycling, rivers, housing developments, toilets and the new hospital

In this week’s letters, two readers talk about a park waterway…New system at recycling centre will deter peopleA trip to the Lynn Recycling Centre at Saddlebow used to be a positive experience, a cheerfully busy place.

Recycling reduces fly-tipping and landfill as well as promoting re-use, and taking our waste ready sorted by type (bottles, cardboard, greenery, batteries etc etc) obviously aids this.Now Norfolk Council has imposed a booking and arrival process that deters.Management too often intrudes on what is familiar and functional (the expensive failed plans for the quay area, the library expelled from its historic building) but is compliant in the plainly undesirable (more gambling centres, long-empty town buildings such as the old Post Office just opposite a ‘community centre’ construction). Recycling (there could also be small sites in town and on estates for key categories) is vital in an age of high consumption, continuous change and obsolescence. Good for us to make the effort as well as for the environment.Edwin Salter LynnThis rivulet in The Walks is actually in good condition I disagree with letter writer ‘Happy Walker’ regarding the so-called river in the park. It is, in fact, a canal or rivulet supplied by the real river there. It was dredged several years ago, and all the deep sediment was removed from the site by tankers.If you look closely, the water is clear. Yes, there is a layer of leaf litter.However, you will find starwort growing in it, which is a sign of good water quality and typical of chalk streams and I have also found ivy-leaved crowfoot (ranunculus hederaceous) flowering in it.You also find growths of green duckweed on the surface. This is not an alga. It shades the water and prevents the growth of toxic algae when it is hot weather and provides cover for tiny water fleas (zooplankton). The ducks love it. Alistair Milner (Happy River Guardian)Lynn

Whole river deserves much better care than thisThank you to ‘Happy Walker’ for raising concerns about the condition of the river in Lynn that flows past the café and on to the bandstand in The Walks.This stretch is a minor branch of the Gaywood River — a kind of backwater — while the main channel cuts through near the Red Mount. At present, this side branch is more like a stagnant lake, with very little flow.That said, the water was fairly clear when I visited this week. With some sensitive maintenance and a concerted effort to clear the litter, it could become a real asset to the area around the café.The main channel of the Gaywood River, by contrast, is in a far worse state.Burdened by agricultural run-off, industrial waste and sewage, it also carries a heavy load of silt. The whole river – and especially this section through The Walks – deserves much better care.With proper attention, it could once again become something the whole community can be proud of.Peter Clitheroevia email Knights Hill development will cause future floodingI note that the capping of Knights Hill is underway, new roads and hundreds of houses. For many years now I have looked down from Knights Hill to the town.I now view it with some concern. Some time in the future due to this development, there will be a tremendous storm and the water will have nowhere to go except to flow downhill to the villages and town below. It is not if, but when.With the best of intentions, the development will effectively prevent precipitation from dissipating into the ground and with all the good intention of the developers the drainage at such a high position will fail and release a torrent downhill into Wootton, Gaywood and Lynn. Many years ago, I saw the devastation at Lynton in Devon when high rainfall on the high land descended on the town with frightening effects. Knights Hill is really high for this part of the county and the profile slopes to the west, descending to a built-up area. This is a real problem for the future and it needs to be recognised as such.Bryan Howlingvia emailMoney raised for the Air Ambulance in Hunstanton and Lynn Norfolk Goldwings showed our bikes and trikes in New Conduit Street, Lynn on Saturday, May 17 and collected £532 for the East Anglian Air Ambulance.We would like to thank everyone who donated towards this very worthy cause.Paula Penn (treasurer)Norfolk Goldwings-A collection by D. Jarrod in Hunstanton High Street on May 3 raised £21.46 for the East Anglian Air Ambulance.Downham dunny vs Lynn Ferry FiascoThomas Eggett’s witheringly concise denunciation of the time it takes to refurbish public toilets in Downham or fix issues with the West Lynn Ferry was the epitome of a neat slice of dry sarcastic wit and made me smile.Clearly Thomas is concerned as to the outcome of the race between the Ferry Fiasco or the Downham Dunny Debacle, but I’d guess the ferry will be the one ‘flush with success’ simply because it has champions with West Norfolk Council.

The Downham toilets are plainly a ‘no go area’ for both residents and borough councillors who appear to avoid the issue and have plainly ducked out and ‘washed their hands’ of this furiously expensive and unbelievably delayed pantomime.Is there a borough councillor prepared to stand up and be counted or is there too much paperwork to deal with?For goodness’ sake there are three toilets to fix… we’ve been waiting nine months or more now. How hard can it be?Steve MackinderDenverLabour cannot take credit for QEH rebuildEarly on Sunday morning, I heard a noise from my letterbox. Wondering who would call on me at such an unearthly hour, I saw a pamphlet on the floor. It was an ‘in touch’ Labour leaflet, more like out of touch, judging by the contents.After reading it, I had no difficulty turning over in bed and going back to sleep. The heading was deceptively worded: ‘Under Labour, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital is coming’.It could give the impression that they are responsible for this, which isn’t so, and there are still rivers to cross before all comes to fruition.We are under Labour misrule at Westminster, and any attempts to take credit for this by them are misleading, but this is what politicians from all the main parties do.It contained some Rachel Reeves arithmetic about a survey on the Norfolk-Suffolk mayor proposal which runs to April 13, which has since passed. I know how 2 + 2 = 5!David FlemingDownhamPicture of the Week

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