Grantham, Spalding, Rutland and Stamford letter writers share their views with LincsOnline
Readers have once again had plenty to say on what’s in the news.
Here we share some of the letters, emails and comments that have come in over the week, including this cartoon from John Elson.
Send your letters to: news@lincsonline.co.uk
Morris are moving
Rutland Morris are on the move! After about 30 years performing in Uppingham Market Place, we have decided to respond to requests and spread their wings.
This May Day (the proper May Day of May 1 ) Rutland Morris will be performing in the Market Place in Oakham. They will start their performance at their version of dawn which is at 5.17am. They very much look forward to crowds to encourage them to ‘dance in the day’, welcome the arrival of summer, and their season of dancing in our county. The plan is to dance until 6am and then disappear into the George Hotel for a well-earned ‘full English’ and a cuppa, and …..possibly even a pint!
They have a very full programme planned for 2025, full details of which can be found on their much-praised web site wwwrutlandmorris.org.uk. They are always on the look out for new dancers and musicians; just contact them via the web, or why not pop along on May 1 and talk to us…we don’t bite!
Looking forward to seeing you all!
Dave Casewell
Rutland Morris press attache
Our banner has been returned
About a year ago I reported that the large plastic banner displayed on the railings by the Meadows had been stolen. The Arts Society spring exhibition had just started.
I found that the CCTV camera installed in the nearby car park had captured the perpetrators cutting it down. I informed the local police who inspected the TV footage but said they could not specifically identify the people involved. There was no sign of the banner which is some 20 feet long.
There the matter rested until a member of the SKDC ground staff must have found the banner crumpled and dirty somewhere on the Meadows and returned it to the Arts Society store room in the Arts Centre. The vandals clearly had no other objective other than mischief.
We are delighted to have it back and after cleaning it will once again be displayed on the railings as it is time again for the Arts Society spring exhibition. Let us hope the vandals, whoever they are, leave it alone this year and we also hope it will help to attract visitors to our show which is on for three weeks and looks very good.
David Allen
Stamford Arts Society
Village doesn’t have the infrastructure
With reference to plans for 200 homes in Harlaxton, the village has difficulty with traffic now with cars parked on the side of the road it becomes one way at times. At school times it’s awful. Coming out of Gregory Close is dangerous. How is the village going to cope with more traffic? Whilst Harlaxton may have the land but it has not got the infrastructure. How could emergency services cope? It may cost lives.
Name and address supplied
Easter egg hunt was good fun
Thank you to all the friendly people at the Alive Church who took the time and trouble to organise the Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt around Grantham town centre on Easter Saturday. It wasn’t easy but it was good fun, even though we didn’t have any grandchildren to help us. It certainly got our aged brains working and it was lovely to receive an Easter egg each after we managed to solve the 24 letter anagram - Easter joy is all around here. We met lots of entrants around the town, all clutching their A4 quiz sheets, and also several church-goers at strategic points in town who pointed us in the right direction! Hopefully we will be able to enter any similar events around Grantham in the future.
Lynda North
Grantham
Please protect our pensions
The National Pensioners Convention, the UK’s largest campaign group run for and by older people fears ministers may be preparing to proceed with proposals originally mooted by the previous Conservative government.
Labour believes surplus cash in the Defined Benefit pension funds will unlock new investment in the economy. But a survey by the Pension Insurance Corporation [PIC] reveals many of the 8.8 million people who still belong to DB pension funds, better known as final salary schemes, worry the plans will jeopardise their incomes in later life.
The poll found 94% of DB pension members do not want politicians interfering with private and occupational pensions and fear the money will not be reinvested in the economy but used to pay shareholders.
Jan Shortt, NPC General Secretary, commented: “It is astonishing the government would risk the pensions of millions at a time when older people are already under inc-reasing financial pressure in retirement. This poses a double jeopardy when worldwide investment markets are so volatile.
“Defined Benefit schemes should be protected and not put at risk by allowing companies to withdraw surplus funds in pensions. Even the original Conservative government consultation on the idea said it would ‘reduce security’ for DB pension members.
The NPC General Secretary will now be writing to Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Under Secretary of State for Pensions Torsten Bell to ask for an immediate pause to any DB Scheme ‘surplus’ extraction proposal. We will also insist that they consult more widely with the pension sector and organisations and charities representing older people before taking any final decision.
Jan Shorrt added: “ The NPC believes the regulatory reforms introduced following the Maxwell-Mirror and Brown-BHS pension scheme raids should be enough to provide protection for today’s DB Schemes. These government ‘ extraction ‘ plans fly in the face of the legal duties of employers, scheme trustees and administrators. Any loosening of regulations puts schemes at risk from unscrupulous people.
“The Pensions Regulator is responsible for making sure DB schemes deliver under The Pensions Acts of 2004 and 2008. But even voicing its support for the government proposals the regulator states: ‘Our first priority must be to ensure pension scheme members have the best chance of receiving their promised benefits.’ With such volatile markets the regulator and government ought to remember this priority, and realise that it is a bad time to be making changes just because things seem rosy today.
“There is every chance that the global markets will have an impact on all investments, not just pensions. Any downturn on returns on investment will cause members of schemes to feel insecure. And any proposal to access cash from what is seen as a ‘surplus’ will rightly cause a degree of anger and questions.”
NPC knows not everyone on DB schemes are on substantial pensions, with many of the oldest, having seen their funds devalued by the rising cost of living. This month’s 4.1% state pension rise is already undermined, with millions of older people paying tax for the first time: millions more having lost their universal Winter Fuel Payments as energy prices continue to rocket, and countless disabled pensioners and their carers face losing the Personal Independence Payment.
PIC, a specialist insurer of UK DB pension shemes, polled 1,000 members of DB schemes. Of those, 60% said they fear the Government’s plan would create risks for them and other members.
Tracy Blackwell, PIC CEO, said: “The views of DB members, many of them elderly, many of them classified as vulnerable, should be properly considered in any decision about policy that the Government's own document says would reduce the security of their pensions. So far, their voices have been absent in this debate.
“What this polling shows fis that many who rely on a DB pension are afraid of changes that could make their pensions less secure. It took a long time to build up a legal regime for DB pensions that puts members first, after the scandals of the 1980s and 1990s. Members are clearly concerned at the prospect of these vital protections being watered down and I would advise them to write to their MP about these proposals.”
Mininsters need to be very careful with this issue given that this is about the financial wellbeing of generally older, and potentially vulnerable, people.
Rodney Sadd
Crowland, supporter of NPC
