(Image: Newsquest)
Tourist tax should come with free bus travel
As The Press continues to feature articles on York's proposed visitors' tax for hotel stays, I would like to inform your readers of my recent experience in Germany.
In most of the cities I visited I had to pay the expected city tax (usually the equivalent of about £3) but I was delighted to find that in two of the locations (Rostock and Konstanz) I was able to use the extensive local transport network completely free of charge, including, in the case of Konstanz, an excursion over the border to the historic and picturesque town of Stein am Rhein.
So, how about it York?
Sugar-coat the surcharge pill with free trips on York buses for overnight tourists, which would lead to a reduction in both traffic congestion and noxious exhaust emissions.
Hazel TaylorLycett RoadYork___
Haxby: village or town?
When, why, and how did Haxby suddenly become a TOWN?
R.ShentonConnaught WayYork
Housebuilders are voting with their feet
All politicians please note. The massive Kier Group has announced it is pulling out of housebuilding.
Going forward the construction giant Kier will not commit capital to new property developments but will concentrate its resources on contracts to implement infrastructure projects.
It says this is to "strengthen its balance sheet and enhance earnings" which is code for "there is no money in housebuilding".
Successive governments have heaped so many burdens on housebuilders that it is no longer worth the effort or risk involved.
It started with small and medium firms ceasing to erect new homes but now the big boys are deciding to curtail their activities as well.
And who can blame them? Government expects them to build for little or no reward.
It is profit that drives growth and provides jobs and tax revenue.
When government interference strips out that profit there is no incentive to build and the consequences are plain for all to see.
There is not a chance in hell that 1.5 million new homes will be built in the life of this Parliament.
It is not simply about the onerous planning system. There are thousands of unbuilt housing schemes with planning permission.
It is about the conditions and demands attached to those approvals that prevent them from proceeding.
Until politicians acknowledge this and roll back the regulatory burden there will be no prospect of easing the housing crisis.
Matthew LaverackRetired ArchitectLord Mayors WalkYorkRecommended reads:
Freshers in York face a crash course in adult life
Freshers' Week started at the York universities on Monday, September 21 - time when most of the girls and boy cut the strings that attached them to their mummies and daddies and they venture out into the great big world of responsibility and adventure.
Like kids who have just had the stabilisers removed from their bikes, the first few steps are shaky and unpredictable, with many scratches and scrapes before they truly cycle off into the great big adventure of adulthood and maturity.
In the next few weeks, and after blowing their cash reserves on takeaways, drink and socialising, they will have to settle into a grown up humdrum way of life previously done by their parents - taking their bins out on the correct day, placing the recyclables in the correct boxes (plastic and glass in one, papers and cardboard in the other), doing their own shopping to a budget.
It's going to be a terrible shock to many , but at the end of university life hopefully they will be mature enough to fit into society in a grown up responsible manner.
D M DeamerPenleys Grove StreetMonkgateWhat do you think?
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