I REFER to the council's threat of legal action against the owners of the Queen Vic pub if the sign is not removed. The innocuous sign was erected almost a year ago and council officers did not appear to have any objection to it at that time.

The owners of the Queen Vic pub restored a dilapidated building which was a complete eyesore for years on the seafront to a popular pub and hotel rooms. Suddenly the council's Development and Regeneration officers had realised that earlier complaints from the public on the height, size and location of the sign was not compatible with the rules pertaining to the Roker Park Conservation area.

During this time did the same department investigate the complaints regarding the hurried removal of a number of trees and the demolition of an ancient stone wall of considerable archeological interest at the rear of the Roker Hotel (owned by Durham Estates)? No they did not.

This matter was discussed at a planning sub-committee and the response was that although Durham Estates should not have proceeded without planning permission, had they applied for such permission it would probably have been granted. So that's all right then!

This company is the same one that plans to remove thousands of trees at Newbottle, against the wishes of the local population. They obviously hold the view that as they own the land they can do what they like with it.

It would appear that the rules pertaining to the Roker Park Conservation area (Character Appraisal and Management Strategy), are not being applied in some cases, especially when it comes to planning decisions.
Coun Lilian Walton,
St Peter's Ward,
Sunderland

Point of the report
CONTRARY to what The Sunderland Echo, Chris Mullin MP, Sharon Hodgson MP and scores of others would have us believe, the document published by The Policy Exchange Group was not in any way an ill-formed attack on the City of Sunderland and the integrity of the good people who live here.
Nowhere in that document did it tell people that the economic future of Sunderland was so grim their only option was move to the South of England.
The whole point of the report was to point out that massive funding for economic regeneration had failed to lift the city out of the mire of low pay, very little job security and in parts of the city, persistent high levels of unemployment.
Added to that, 30 per cent of those of working age are described as economically inactive. I understand it is the Government's description for those who are dependent on benefits other than job seeker's allowance.
Despite a lot of hard work by dedicated people, Sunderland does not have the capacity to provide a high level of secure employment for its people.
Ron Metcalfe,
East Herrington,
Sunderland

Not crackpot idea
HAVING read Alan Wright's latest letter (Echo, September 3) criticising a previous letter writer and expounding the always correctness of his own party, I would like to put him right on one subject.
He talks about "crackpot ideas and what Left-leaning think tanks are renowned for". The latest, he says, is that local authorities should go into the home mortgage market.
I would like to differ with the councillor on that subject as our local council was in the mortgage market some years ago. I know this because I received my mortgage for my present home in 1975 from our council.
It was a good arrangement and I was always courteously treated by the Civic Centre staff during the years I was paying the mortgage.
Sometime later this facility was withdrawn by our council, for whatever reason, which was a pity in my opinion.
So, Mr Wright, you are obviously not aware of such a brilliant facility your council once provided to its citizens.
AA Kelly,
Tunstall Vale,
Sunderland

Aimed to kill NHS
HOT on the heels of the Tory-led Policy Exchange issuing notice that we should all pack up our bags and head south (where the streets are paved with gold apparently), comes the next Tory attack on our society.
The Tory-led Reform think tank, started by Nick Herbert in 2001 and now a Tory MP and Andrew Haldenby (former head of the political section of the Conservative Research Department), issue a report aimed at destroying the NHS system to replace it with an insurance-driven system. American style health-care anyone?
So here are the Tories making it clear that their preferred view is to destroy the NHS, yet another clear attack on our society, a continuation of the Thatcherite policy of the 80s and early 90s to disenfranchise those in the North as the Tories have no support here.
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the NHS as "the best insurance policy in the world" in January 2008 and we the people of Sunderland must protect key institutions like the NHS from the predations of the Tory party.
Just say "No" to the Tories. They have never done a thing for you in Sunderland and if they have their way they will close down not just NHS hospitals in the future.
Coun Graeme Miller,
Washington South,
Sunderland