Your letters to the Helensburgh Advertiser: January 31, 2019

To have your say on any local issue, just email your views to editorial@helensburghadvertiser.co.uk with your name and address. Please keep your letters as brief and to-the-point as you can.

We also need a daytime contact phone number in case we need to check any details at short notice, though this will not be published.

Happy writing!

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It is a sad reflection on the Brexit process that my German wife who has lived in Scotland for 42 years from the age of 21, has to apply to the UK government to remain here or face deportation in 2021. She has worked here in Scotland since 1976, for almost all of her life, paying tax to the British government, and raising a family with children and grandchildren in Helensburgh.

For two and a half years since the split Tory government has taken the country down the Brexit road, people from other EU states who were firmly settled here have been anxious about the final outcome. The situation has resulted in an increase in racism and anti-foreigner tensions in parts of our society, which have made my wife and most other EU citizens feel unwelcome here.

As a Scot having lived all my life in the UK, I am along with others, deeply embarrassed regarding this government's attitude to the almost three million non-British EU nationals who live and work in the UK.

Despite the vast majority supporting our economy and paying taxes over many years, none were permitted to vote in the British EU referendum to have a say on their future continued life here, except those from Eire which is an independent member of the EU.

To those who say she should apply for British citizenship, she takes pride in her birthright identity, and this should surely not be an obstacle to her continuing to live in the country she has made her home.

Why should she consider sitting a citizenship test which includes answering irrelevant questions on obscure facts about cousins of the Royal Family, and to name the mythical occupation of characters in British TV soap operas ?

That is apart from the £1,206 fee to be paid.

My wife, along with others in the same boat, has been upset by the situation. She has been assured by recent government statements that she simply has to apply for "settled status" by proving her identity with her passport, and provide proof of living in this country for more than five years.

Hopefully that proof will be evident from her national insurance and tax records filed with HMRC over the past 42 years. The government intended to charge her a fee of £65 for the privilege, but quickly dropped that, presumably to avoid a backlash.

But can she be sure of being granted "settled status" ? Perhaps the Tory successor to our lame duck Prime Minister will be an anti-immigration zealot who will decide that a 63-year-old German woman, living in the UK and who is about to retire, who will no longer contribute appropriate working skills, taxes and national insurance payments to the UK economy, should be stripped of her pension rights and sent packing back to her home country.

Day by day we await the next dreaded development in this self-inflicted Tory Brexit mess with trepidation and continued uncertainty for our future in this country.

Joseph Black, 10 Kenilworth Avenue, Helensburgh

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READ MORE: Your letters to the Advertiser - January 24, 2019

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Having just read the article written by Maurice Corry MSP (Advertiser Comment, January 24) regarding the skating pond in Helensburgh, I have been driven to hit the keyboard.

Mr Corry, a chap I've never met, puts forward the idea of a "stone skimming" event at the pond.

Sorry, but I don't agree for a number of reasons.

I have been using the path around the pond for a couple of years now, as have many others, to walk my wee dog, a cockapoo named Ruffles.

Since 2017 I have noticed a bit of a clean up taking place with trees and bushes being cropped back and the whole site is looking fresher and tidier.

Evidence of this can be confirmed by the number of cars now competing for a parking place at the pond!

Wouldn't this stone skimming seriously upset the little families of ducks that we all love to feed and the other birds that enjoy the free feed from patrons to the pond?

Sorry if you don't agree, but there are some places that should be left just as is, a lovely quiet area for the public, their children and their pets, to enjoy as nature intended.

Alex Winter, Colquhoun Street, Helensburgh

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READ MORE: Your letters to the Advertiser - January 17, 2019

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The double yellow lines to be painted at the corner of Sinclair Street and MacLachlan Road ('New parking limits backed', Advertiser, January 10) are a political solution in search of a problem .

I live on MacLachlan Road, 100 yards from the junction, and walk past it on a daily basis. There have been and are no parking issues.

Contrary to the roads department report supporting the council decision, passengers using the West Highland Line park on the west side of Sinclair Street or on West Abercrombie Street.

Customers of the Nippy Sweety stop for a few minutes to pick up food or drink from the shop. They don't meet the legal definition of parking.

This issue started with a complaint from one neighbour about litter. The litter in question did not come from the Nippy Sweety, but from takeaway outlets elsewhere.

There were two objections lodged against the proposed lines, and a petition with 550 signatures, all against.

As one of the registered objectors, I fail to understand the council process in this matter. There has been no discussion or opportunity for debate. The council action is in the face of local opposition and without any obvious merit.

Helensburgh police have no record of any public safety problems at the intersection.

Action should be taken at the junctions of John and James Streets. where parked cars require drivers to ease into the middle of West King Street or West Princes Street for a clear sight of oncoming traffic.

Double yellow lines at the appropriate places would eliminate this driving hazard.

In the upper part of Helensburgh, there are few, if any, visible street signs. The ink on the existing signs has faded to obscurity with the passage of time. Visitors to the town who can't find their way as a result are a traffic hazard.

This is a punitive action on the part of Helensburgh and Lomond area committee. A slap in the face of John O'Brien, the owner of the Nippy Sweety, who has built the business on hard work and meeting the needs of workers coming into town to build the excess houses approved by the same committee.

This is another sterling example of the failure of Argyll and Bute Council to listen to local opinion and act accordingly.

Double yellow lines at the Nippy Sweety join Persimmon Homes at Dobbies, extra houses at Redgauntlet Road, the Men's Shed at the former parks depot, houses at the Sawmill Field and the Helensburgh pierhead leisure centre. All approved for unexplained reasons by the area committee.

This is a remarkable public record of shame. One of the stated objectives of Argyll and Bute Council is to be transparent and accountable to the local community.

These are mere words on paper; action speaks louder than words.

John Black, 6 Woodhollow House, MacLachlan Road, Helensburgh

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I would be interested to know which sampling method Alastair Redman has used to find that the Named Person scheme has “virtually no public support” (Advertiser Comment, January 24).

His statement is yet another piece of a seemingly never ending campaign of misinformation waged by opponents of this legislation, which Councillor Redman has previously described as “Orwellian” but which the Supreme Court described as being “benign”.

In reality the most discredited aspect of this manufactured controversy is the claims made against it which were largely rejected in the Supreme Court judgement.

What we are left with is an attempt to create a joined up system of child protection foundering on the rock of data protection laws.

Perhaps Councillor Redman might also enlighten us on why his party suddenly found fault with a measure that had initially passed through the Scottish Parliament by 103 votes to 0, but I won’t hold my breath.

That’s politics for you. It is unfortunate that the initial consensus gave way to the usual adversarial nonsense. Who knows, a sensible solution to the genuine problems which have arisen might have been found.

It is notable that representatives of groups working with children have supported it, especially teacher unions whose members, if some of the wilder claims had been correct, would have seen their workload rise exponentially.

Having actually read the draft legislation before the controversy arose, I have constantly struggled struggled to see any of the doomsday scenarios that have been floated.

I suspect that if the public were allowed to know what the legislation actually entails it might be Councillor Redman who ends up with virtually no public support.

Robin Irvine, 4 Abercromby Place West, Helensburgh