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Not surprised that we are again having to play second fiddle to London where our railways
are concerned.
This government, like every Tory government before it, is happy to spend billions on
railways which benefit London and the south east but has no intention of spending anything
on railways which would benefit the north.
Just look at its track record of cancelled upgrades to the Midland main line.
There is still no sign of upgrades to the Hope Valley route.
HS2, if it ever gets started, which I don’t believe it ever will, will be started at the London end
and will never get beyond Birmingham.
HS3, which would run from Liverpool to Hull, will remain on the pie-in-the-sky agenda
forever.
It is time we in the north got our fair share of the tax revenues we pay into the government
coffers.
Maybe it is time to consider a new government for the north devolved from the republic of
greater London which is using our taxes for their benefit.
Dennis
by email
London to Sheffield
Clive Betts says trains between Sheffield and London will take longer.
HS2 for Sheffield will now be nearer Doncaster than Sheffield and even Rotherham with a
train connection into the centre of Sheffield.
In future who will want to travel to London from Sheffield but still more important who will
want to travel from London to Sheffield?
Eddie Peart
Flood claims archive
Regarding the very interesting article on the pub auctions, (January 29), the year of the
great Sheffield flood was actually 1864 not 1854.
It occurred on March 3, when the Dale Dyke Dam built near Low Bradfield by Sheffield
Waterworks Company was being filled for the first time to be a reservoir to provide a clean
water supply for the growing population of Sheffield.
A crack in the embankment caused the flood which swept down through Malin Bridge,
Hillsborough, the city centre and through Attercliffe towards Rotherham, 240 people were
killed and 15 bridges swept away.
Through doing my family tree, I found one of my ancestors, Joseph Nuttall, had a tailor’s
business at 19 Nursery Street, which suffered severe damage in the flood. He made a claim
for damage and loss of customers garments totalling £5 17s. He was awarded £3.
Sheffield Hallam University have done a claims archive which can be found on their website
for anyone interested in studying it further.
Bev Simmons
Sheffield
Will they ever listen?
I fully agree with the views expressed by R Shaw in the letter published on January 29.
However, it is not just rural communities and NatWest customers who are affected, as
widespread inconvenience is being caused by branch closures generally.
The banks tell us that people prefer to bank on line but the queues in the branches which
have remained open seem to have got longer, so it appears that there is still strong demand
for over-the- counter service.
You can’t pay cash and cheques in on line and this must create serious problems for many,
particularly small businesses and charities.