From housebuilding to ULEZ, our readers from across the county give their weekly take on the biggest issues impacting Kent in their letters to the editor...

Some letters refer to past correspondence which can be found by clicking here.

House building ignores our infrastructure

I feel the need to make some points on the need for new housing.

Most of the houses being built are not for first-time buyers, whose needs are used to justify saturation building.

Infrastructure is totally ignored. I live in Sittingbourne, where doctors, schools, water supply and roads are overwhelmed by demand.

I’m not a NIMBY as I believe the lives of all residents, old and new, will be awful.

Permanent loss of habitat and green spaces and unpolluted air result from building plans.

I am making plans to move North to get away from the disaster that is Kent.

Lesley Evans

Workers cross ULEZ boundary

Your correspondent is rightly concerned about the extension of ULEZ to outer London.

The London Borough of Bromley has made clear its opposition. We have refused to sign the Section 8 agreement with Transport for London to permit them to place cameras on borough roads. We cannot prevent them on the A20, A21 and A232 which are TfL roads.

Bromley is London’s largest borough and borders both Kent and Surrey. Many people working shifts in essential services cross the county boundary to work in Bromley.

Cross-boundary bus services are few and not available late at night. We also have many self-employed trades people who cannot afford to replace their work vans in a few months. Similarly, with the largest population of over 65s on limited incomes it is not feasible for them to buy compliant vehicles.

Cllr Nicholas Bennett

Executive member for transport, highways and road safety, London Borough of Bromley

Eco warnings not all wrong

Mr Bullen needs wake up to the reality of the world we live in today.

The 1970s ecologists he mentions may perhaps have been too pessimistic in their timings, (“we’re doomed” quoting Frazer in Dad’s Army) but much of what they warned about is actually familiar to us today.

People in some cities in some parts of the world do wear masks to protect from pollution and civilisation is ending for some communities on low lying tropical islands.

Today’s so called ecological extremists are indeed a complete pain in the neck at times with their disruption tactics but they are actually doing humanity as a whole a service in drawing people’s attention to climate matters.

And there will be a time when we all realise that climate does matter. Perhaps Mr Bullen is amongst those who “don’t like it up ‘em” when considering this. Stupid boy!

Guy Steward

Confusing facts and opinions

Mr Colin Bullen is usually a worthwhile read, as it stirs up controversy - for my part, mainly about the involvement of human activity as the cause of the dramatic changes in climate that has already been responsible for lives being lost, several species losing their natural habitat, the rapid melting of the ice cap which in turn raises sea levels and much, much more.

I know that Mr Bullen will accept these things are happening. Where we differ is in accepting that is due to human behaviour. He likes to think that his opinions are facts - but they are just opinions, they are not facts.

It is indisputable that we, as a species are responsible for what is happening around the world. Last Thursday, Oxford University released their latest findings (if Mr B would care to read them) which reinforced what most of us, who haven’t had our collective heads in the sand, already knew.

Lesley Flint

Hanging on the telephone

I'm beside myself with frustration that whenever I try to get through to an organisation such as an insurance company or GP surgery on the phone, I'm placed in a queue that very nearly stretches my patience to breaking point.

While I'm in the throes of despair, I'm privy to an automated voice that tells me: 'Your call is very important to us.'

Those words strike me as being hollow and disingenuous and fail to placate me. Do they really give a damn?

M. Smith

Running risk of creating more Andrew Tates

As a gay man of a certain age, close to that of columnist Robert Barman, I find his views on the influence of Andrew Tate on some young men surprisingly complacent.

Despite the significant progress made over recent decades, it sadly seems misogyny is still very much mainstream behaviour and as events in the Metropolitan Police have shown, you don’t have to look far below the surface to find a disturbingly embedded culture where such antediluvian attitudes towards women appear to have been both tolerated and normalised over several generations of rookie recruits to the ranks.

It might be supposed that those young men and boys who swallow everything Tate spouts in his online boasts and videos are a small minority, and that they will soon grow out of it.

But one teenager interviewed said he agreed with at least 10% of what Tate said about women. As a Romanian victim of his predations said, we can’t have a society in 20 years’ time with two million Tates. But that’s the real danger and it’s no laughing matter to those women affected.

Alan Bullion

Broadcaster represents the middle ground

Mr Bullen is now calling on George Orwell to back up the argument - a stereotypical left leaning liberal, or is it the devil quoting scripture?

The BBC is criticised by both the Left and Right, so probably occupies the middle of the British political spectrum and remains an institution that we should be proud of.

I am sure that Mr. Bullen will claim he is talking for the Silent Majority but in his heart he knows this is almost an oxymoron; if they are so silent how is it possible to say they are the majority?

I am confident however that so much anger cannot be good for the soul.

Martin Chandler

I would prefer more adverts to BBC bias

I very much approve of what Colin Bullen said about the BBC which was once the most respected broadcaster throughout the world and was known for its truthful and it’s balanced reporting. But sadly no more.

Many major concerns to the public such as, the lack of proper unbiased reporting on immigration, hardly ever gets debated properly for fear of upsetting the charities and left wing organisations.

I used to love Question Time and never missed it, but once Fiona Bruce took over from David Dimbleby she has ruined a perfectly good programme by continually speaking over the panellists with mainly left wing panels and audiences.

I am all for diversity but the BBC has gone way over the top with its selection of presenters and newscasters, etc, as indeed has ITV.

The problem with the BBC is that instead of just reporting the news or a programme, it has to have its own so-called ‘experts’ giving their views.

For me, it’s time the BBC stopped having public funding and was made to earn a crust as all the other TV companies which rely solely on revenue from advertising. If this instils a more balanced view from the BBC, then that I think it will be worth having to put up with more adverts.

Mr S. C. Anning

Strong opinions don’t mean you’re right

Colin Bullen’s new assertion this week is that the presenters of BBC news programmes act as ‘attack dogs’. I must say that the likes of Fiona Bruce, Huw Edwards, Victoria Derbyshire, Kirsty Wark and Mark Urban acting in this way beggars belief.

Mr Bullen suggested that for evidence that the BBC is run by people who hate their country, that I should read the essays of George Orwell who he said ‘knew those people too well’. I dusted down my 1968 edition of Orwell’s 27 essays published from 1931 to 1949. All the people Orwell referred to are long since gone and, needless to say, what he had to say about them had no bearing whatsoever on the BBC today.

Mr Bullen makes the mistake of thinking that if you express your opinions forcefully enough, you don’t need evidence, that in itself is enough to convince people that they must be true. It isn’t and it doesn’t.

John Cooper

Beware of dodgy dog breeders

Following the BBC1 Panorama programme ‘Dogs, Dealers and Organised Crime’, pet charity Blue Cross is appalled that puppies are being deliberately bred with life affecting deformities and that the painful practice of ear cropping continues, despite being against the law.

We are calling on the government to improve legislation around dog breeding and demand enforcement to prosecute breeders and others who practice horrific ear cropping.

We urge anyone considering getting a puppy from a breeder to ensure they are being bred with their health and welfare at heart and not just for profit. It is only by not buying from these unscrupulous breeders that deformities and exaggerated features in puppies will ever be stamped out.

Tracy Genever

Blue Cross head of welfare standards and education