AS a 60-year-old horrified by this country’s decision to leave the EU, can I commend Alex Tate-Smith on his excellent letter. I totally agree with him.

I have been horrified that those politicians who promoted the leave vote have unleashed a torrent of nastiness that I feared lurked beneath the surface of the UK. I know they didn’t mean to, and no one with any sense would support the views being expressed, but it didn’t take a huge amount of insight to see it coming.

To those who believe they have repatriated sovereignty to the UK, can I say you never lost it. There are issues with the EU and we should have joined with our partners across Europe to change them.

Now we will get the rules if we want to trade with no ability to influence the policy. And like Norway we will probably have to pay for the privilege.

There has been a phenomenal amount of misinformation throughout the campaign on both sides. I think there is a strong argument to invalidate the referendum on those grounds alone.

As a Scottish friend living in England pointed out to me recently, prior to the Scottish vote he read a 670-page book on the effects of leaving the UK (and he couldn’t vote as he lived in England). What did we get from either side?

Jerry Swift, Great Barugh

Honour for fan

WE recently had a superb meal at the Grapes in Great Habton.

John Dyson was there with some friends and we had a quick chat. Terry Dyson (John’s brother and Spurs footballing star from the 1950s/1960s) was in the party.

John invited me to over to speak to Terry who was one of my footballing heroes. Terry and John were super, very friendly and made an oldish Spurs fan very happy. We are awash with celebrities nowadays, but here was a true star who you could talk to and who “made my day”. Many thanks to John and Terry.

Brian Drew, Norton

Difficult decisions

RYEDALE District Council (RDC) reports seeking to save a further £1.1m in costs (Gazette & Herald, July 13) in addition to savings of £3.6m achieved in the last four years.

RDC reports on its website the base salary, pension and expenses of the top two positions, and the salary range of the next tier of six managers.

Looking only at base salary, the combined cost of these eight individuals is almost £488,000. Actual costs of these positions (taking into account pension, National Insurance and expenses) are probably closer to £600,000, which is 55 per cent of the total savings target.

If, as Unison suggests, 20 or more people may be dismissed as redundant, this implies that a lot of low paid people are being considered.

Last year, RDC cut 11 positions with an average base pay of a little over £27,000. So clearly few if any senior management positions were included in those cuts, and it appears to be that the same is envisaged again this year.

With the “political steer” of councillors in mind, in order to keep frontline services at their best for the taxpayer, RDC should take a close look at the top tiers of management when contemplating savings.

Clearly these positions cannot all go, but there is a likelihood that by merging some positions, and perhaps eradicating one or two, efficiency will be maintained. Add to this the saving from sale of some properties owned by RDC, and the target could be achieved with frontline services least damaged.

According to figures supplied by RDC in response to a Freedom of Information request earlier this year, council costs on the Wentworth Street Car Park project amounted to £1.69m. More than £500,000 over the target cuts RDC faces today.

It’s a shame there has been such unnecessary wastage in the past, which might have contributed to the hard decisions that face RDC today, and it will be revealing to see the outcome of current consultations at RDC.

Fiona Croft, Old Malton

Die has been cast

I’M 31 so I’m neither in the young or old camp when it came to the historical EU vote, but all this petty sniping is no worse than Michael Gove backstabbing Boris Johnson’s bid for the job of Prime Minister, now held by Theresa May.

At the end of the day our elders know best so whether or not they made the huge bulk of the leave votes or the youngsters trending up the leave vote does not matter, the die has been cast. The vote has been cast so let’s see what the next two years bring down the line and stop this doom mongering.

Peter Smith, Pickering

Thanks for vote

AS THE dust settles after last month’s referendum and as chairman of Ukip Thirsk & Malton Constituency Association, I would like to thank all those who had the courage to ignore Project Fear and vote Leave.

The Thirsk & Malton Parliamentary Constituency takes in three district councils, Hambleton, Ryedale and Scarborough. In Hambleton the vote was 54 per cent for Leave and 46 per cent for Remain. In Ryedale it was 55 per cent for Leave and 45 per cent for Remain. In Scarborough it was 62 per cent for Leave and 38 per cent for Remain, with the opportunity to reclaim the UK’s North Sea fishing grounds clearly in voters’ minds.

Since the vote, three upsides and three dangers averted have become clear. The stock market has risen strongly, our exporters will benefit from a more competitive pound and new trade deals with China, India and the United States are in sight.

Likewise, the dangers of an EU army in competition with Nato, direct EU taxation through the issue of EU Tax Identification Numbers and visa-free travel from Turkey into the Schengen zone have been averted. As the months pass, the gains from Brexit will only grow, just as the gains grew rapidly after the UK’s departure from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992.

In Thirsk & Malton, our MP supported the Remain side. For the 57 per cent of the voters across the three district councils who supported Leave last month, Ukip is now the only party in Thirsk & Malton wholly committed to a civilised and orderly Brexit negotiation.

Those who supported Leave from all parties and none would therefore receive a warm welcome should they decide to join our rapidly growing association in this unique constituency.

Toby Horton, chairman of Ukip Thirsk & Malton Constituency Association

Violation of past

MORE alterations to the road layout at the crossroads of Newbiggin, Broughton Road, Pasture Lane and Mount Crescent is necessitating the felling of a well-established tree on the Pinfold, or as the council prefer to call it “the planter”, resulting in yet more violation of Malton’s historic past.

By leaps and bounds it would appear the council and the Fitzwilliam Estate are instrumental in destroying the character of this market town. And yet at the same time using the term “historic market town” as an advertising ploy to bring visitors and inhabitants for the vast numbers of properties being built.

Are the powers that be trying to compete with York for City status – two cathedrals, St Michael’s and St Leonard’s perhaps? In which case the upkeep of these will have to be added to the necessary infrastructure of schools, surgeries, disposal of increased household waste, assisted housing for the growing numbers of unemployed (even maybe council staff) and what about all those in the building trade once the new properties have been built?

Or will the building never stop requiring compulsory destruction of all trees, thereby depriving us of oxygen, carbon storage, stability of the soil and the shade we will be needing in forthcoming global warming?

N Brown, Malton

Town vision needed

CAN anyone tell me and the residents of Malton what is happening to this town?

Is it turning into a ghost town?

Some more shops have closed – Robson Usher and The Gift Shop. I have been told the rents and rates have gone up again. Surely the logical thing would be to keep the rent and rates down and fill the empty shops. The Saturday market has also depleted.

It seems the powers that be, the Fitzwilliam Estate and the town council are only interested in the food festival.

Yes, it brings people into the town, but they do not look at the other shops that are left.

What is to happen to the town hall/museum now it has had a face lift?

We will be left with charity shops, supermarkets and cafes/restaurants in abundance and not a lot of anything else?

Yes, they serve a purpose, but it would be nice to see the empty properties filled.

More people go out of town to Clifton Moor and Monks Cross in York to find what they want.

Pickering caters for the war weekend, when we have Eden Camp on our doorstep.

Some vision is needed to keep the town alive.

Mrs I England, Norton

Survey success?

RESPONDING to the Cancer Patient Experience Survey for England released on July 5, Macmillan estimates that, among those who felt they needed it, more than 45 per cent of cancer patients in Yorkshire and the Humber say that they didn’t receive adequate information about the potential long-term side effects as a result of their cancer treatment.

More than 64 per cent of patients say that they never received a care plan that could help them deal with their condition better.

Macmillan has always believed that the patients’ voices should inform the direction of travel for cancer care. According to this year’s survey, it seems cancer patients are having a good overall experience of care in Yorkshire and the Humber even though there are still concerns.

For example, although 50 per cent of cancer patients say that they didn’t always find someone in the hospital to talk to if they had worries and fears, 95 per cent say that they were told whom to contact after leaving the hospital if they have worries about their condition.

The Cancer Patient Experience Survey is an official statistic for the first time and we hope this new data and information will serve as one more way to improve. We continue to work tirelessly to that end.

Paul McCavana, Macmillan head of services – North of England

Infrastructure first

PERHAPS if Janet Waggott and her fellow cohorts had not wasted a small fortune on fruitless legal wranglings with Wentworth Street and other ideas, she wouldn’t need to make savings of £1.1 million of residents’ money.

Get the infrastructure sorted first.

Kevin Butt, Pickering