YOUR SAY: Letters to the Diss Express on Friday, August 31

PLEASE VALUE LOCAL INPUT

I was interested to read two opposing opinions about Gig in the Park, because I found myself agreeing with aspects of both.

While I agree with David Black (Your Letters, Diss Express, August 10) that being a punter at the gig was great fun, particularly when The Blockheads were playing, being a local resident that weekend was the exact opposite of.

At home, myself and my immediate neighbours could hear the main stage, the Mere stage and the sound system all competing in an excruciating mush of amplified sound, bouncing off the Mere and reverberating at high levels around every part of our houses and gardens.

By Sunday night, when Dr and The Medics were proposing ‘one more song’ I was in my kitchen yelling ‘Nooo!’, and ready to go down there and pull the plug myself.

I must also agree with Mr Bankart (Your Letters, August 10) that the park closure is problematic for us locals. The park entrance in Denmark Street was not staffed by a helpful human, but unceremoniously blocked for three days by a brutal fence.

When an important open space and safe walking route into town is taken away so rudely, it is easy to feel that our neighbourhood has been hijacked by a commercial event that is treating the local community as a nuisance to be managed, rather than a partner in hosting that event.

I suppose it could just be renamed Gig in the Field and staged in the middle of nowhere, but it seems to me that the council genuinely wants this event to benefit Diss, so maybe they should genuinely seek, respect and value local input.

As a music fan, I’d love to see an act the calibre of The Blockheads play Diss again next year, but surely a genuine and meaningful consultation about noise, duration and use of the park needs to be initiated well before licensing next summer’s gig, so that we can take pride in the event, rather than feel it has been imposed upon us.

Emma Bernard

Denmark Street

Diss

PLANS UP FOR GENERAL DEBATE

We would like to alert everyone to the police and crime commissioner’s current public consultation, which finishes on September 5. He has proposed ‘A Case for Change’ to take over the running of Norfolk’s Fire and Rescue Service and wants to hear what we, the public, think to his proposal.

Norfolk County Council, which currently runs the service, has voted unanimously against these plans. Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service and the Fire Brigades Union have both rejected the proposal, believing it to be unjustified, undemocratic, a waste of public money and a risk to our safety. Norfolk’s Fire and Rescue Service is one of the country’s most efficient and is ahead of the curve in its successful collaboration with other emergency services.

We would urge everyone to take the time to make their opinions felt to the police and crime commissioner before Wednesday, September 5.

Take the online survey at www.norfolk-pcc.gov.uk, give your feedback over the phone on 01953 424455 or write to Fire Consultation, OPCCN, Building 8, Jubilee House, Falconers Chase, Wymondham, NR18 0WW. If you support the Fire Brigades Union’s stance, then sign its petition by going to www.change.org and search for ‘Hands Off Our Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service’.

Jane Jennifer and
David Reekie

South Norfolk Labour Party

Dickleburgh

I HELD THE KEY TO THE LAND

I can tell you why we have traffic lights and not a roundabout at the top of Sawmills Road in Diss.

In the late 1980s, when the road was being planned, there was to be a roundabout at this junction and a visual splay was needed. At the time, I owned the land required to make this possible.

Landowners, developers and contractors were to make a great deal of money out of the Sawmills Road development.

I was offered peanuts, despite holding the key which would allow them to build the roundabout which had been planned for.

Rather than pay me a fair price for the land required, they went ahead and changed the roundabout for traffic lights.

If the planned roundabout had gone ahead, would we have had the same troubles we have at Vinces Road?

Neville Pearson

Victoria Road

Diss

• Your letters are always welcome. Email them to editorial@dissexpress.co.uk; send by post to Diss Express, Norfolk and Suffolk House, Mere Street, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 4AE, or simply drop your letter through the letter box. Please make sure to include your contact details.