Readers' letters - January 27

So often in planning applications, wildlife is not taken into account.

It is as though we forget that we share this land with a huge variety of wildlife, and that these other species have a right to be here and to live without disturbance from humans.

We need, as a community, to recognise the importance of ‘edge-land’, those small areas on the edges of our city that consist of woodland, hedgerows, streams, ponds and patches of grassland.

These places might look scruffy and useless, but in fact they sustain all kinds of animals, birds and plants.

Some of the animals include foxes, stoats, frogs, deer, buzzards, garden birds and bats.

Once their habitat is gone, they too will be gone – forever.

The wild areas lying just beyond our doors and fences serve to remind us that nature is not just some remote mountain or protected park.

Nature really is on our doorsteps.

Moreover, we gain so much pleasure from being immersed in our local wildlife, especially if we make the effort to protect it.

So whether the plans are to build a road, a green village, or more housing on the edge of town, we need to remember that we share common ground with other species – birds and animals.

They don’t have a voice, so we need to speak up for them and assert their right to live where they are, in peace.

Laura Deacon

Address supplied


environment

Pollution’s a bigger threat

Can the world get any more insane?

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is advising that children need to be taught good hand-washing techniques to help lower the likelihood of spreading germs.

The biggest threat to children’s health is surely pollution and CO2 from motor vehicles. The faster they travel, the more fuel they burn, the more lung disease they create, and the faster sea levels rise.

According to Unicef, “children in The Netherlands are the happiest children in the whole wide world,” not least because they cycle to school.

If we had zero tolerance of drivers abusing and skimming cyclists, and parking in cycle lanes, it would surely improve UK children’s health and well being, if not their parents.

When there’s a move for zero tolerance for drivers using mobile phones, zero tolerance regarding speed limits must surely be a far greater priority?

If Donald Trump is going to generate more CO2, we must generate less.

Allan Ramsay

Address supplied


employment

Difficulty in finding work

I felt I had to write as I am getting angrier and angrier.

I keep seeing in the paper about unemployment figures dropping in Wigan.

Well, I wish someone would let my son know.

His job finished in November without explanation and since then he has been unable to find a job. He has applied for job after job. No one has ever got back to him.

Agencies advertise vacancies but when he applies, they tell him the vacancy has been filled – but they are still advertised on job websites.

He is only 21 but if he applies for an apprenticeship, he’s told he is too old.

Also now to top it off, the Department for Work and Pensions has now stopped his money so now he has nothing to live on.

It’s a joke!

Miss T

Wigan