Letters

York's tourist tax should vary by hotel rating - letter

Our lead letter writer says visitors to York should pay a tourist tax based on their hotel's star rating. Photo: Rachel Kennedy/ The Press Camera Club <i>(Image: Rachel Kennedy/ The Press Camera Club)</i>
Our lead letter writer says visitors to York should pay a tourist tax based on their hotel's star rating. Photo: Rachel Kennedy/ The Press Camera Club (Image: Rachel Kennedy/ The Press Camera Club)
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One-size-fits-all isn’t fair

Having paid tourist tax when on holiday, I think York needs one that is fair to all classes of visitors.

I think a £1 for 1 star, increasing to £2 for 2 star, up to £5 for 5 star hotels is a fairer tax.

I do not think it fair that someone staying in a 5 star hotel only has to pay the same as someone staying in 1 star hotel.

Colin Forth

Highthorn Road

York


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Footpath is still a disgrace

Some six months ago I contacted my MP in connection with the appalling state of the footpath between the bus stop and the care home at Kexby.

It’s not possible to get off the bus at the bus stop without tangling with the hawthorn hedge. The path in places is covered with gravel from the crumbling road.

In these six months nothing much has changed in spite of the MP contacting the council. Only today I snagged my Gortex jacket on the hedge.

I have recently tried on three occasions to recontact the MP’s office, only to be met with a silence suggesting I don’t exist.

In desperation I recently contacted the local councillor who showed consideration for the situation. But as he’s not a member of the ruling party I’m not holding my breath.

In Harrogate (where the council is controlled by the Lib Dems) I understand the hedge situation is handled very differently; if an overhanging hedge isn’t dealt with satisfactorily the council go and cut the hedge properly.

But York’s Labour council seems, by comparison, incompetent.

Perhaps they’ll compensate for the damage done to the jacket; perhaps not.

This footpath itself is in a deplorable and unacceptable condition, used by visitors and staff from the local care home.

Will I be voting Labour next time round? Guess!!

Brian Ledger

Copmanthorpe

York

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What word now fits the Great Lakes mnemonic?

At school I was taught the mnemonic ‘some men have every opportunity’ to remember the order, west to east, of the Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario).

With the current POTUS (President of the United States) ‘renaming’ Ontario, I’m pondering the new alternatives: ‘some men have every... arrogance? asininity? absurdity? amorality?’

Matt Rylatt

Caedmon Close

York

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Patience about illegal immigration is wearing thin

A simple, obvious fact of life is that had this government, together with its predecessors, possessed the will and guts to be serious about illegal immigration, there would be no reason for people to show their displeasure by demonstrating on the streets as seen recently.

Public patience, quite rightly, has started to wear very thin.

Peter Rickaby

Moat Way

Brayton

North Yorkshire

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Air traffic control fiasco

Yet another mess with air traffic control.

I’m wondering if Putin is loitering somewhere in the background with that pathetic smirk on his face.

Mick Horsman

Moorland Road

York

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