Your letters - February 26, 2010

A21 roadworks will not help industry

IT IS reassuring to know that improvements are to be made to the Marley Lane/A21 junction.

Marley Lane (together with Powdermill Lane) have become increasingly busy, to the most part by failure of the council to address the problem of the Bexhill/Hastings bypass over previous years.

Motorists (who know every pot hole) choose this route to avoid the endless traffic jams on the A259. I doubt whether the provision of the Hastings Link road will make any difference as it will only compound the problems on to The Ridge, Hastings.

I find it sad that the councillors and others go back to the usual theme that road improvements will enhance industrial development and will provide up to 380 jobs.

A glance at all three of the industrial sites in Lower Marley Lane will reveal that they all have further plots to be developed and visually all can be seen to have empty industrial units, a testimony to failed businesses.

It is the economy, not the road, that ensures whether the need for development takes place.

I believe the real reason why the junction is being improved is to facilitate the conditions required for the development of the Highfield Farm site, between Marley Lane and Starrs Mead.

This is a large building development for which the council gave planning permission despite it not seeming to comply with their own planning criteria!

C B HONE

Marwin Farm, Marley Lane, Battle

Religion is reason for Sunday closing

THE Jempson brothers' psycho babble (perhaps googled?) in last week's Observer does not fool most of the people.

We would respect their decision to close on a Sunday much more if they came clean and were honest about the reason.

We all know it's because of religion. A religion which views Sunday as day of rest. Simple as ABC.

Why don't the Jempson brothers admit this instead of pretending to be social commentators rather than the shopkeepers they are.

We may also be more inclined to accept Sunday closing (although I can think of no rational argument for this in the 21st century) if shopping in the Rye Jempsons Budgens was a pleasant experience Monday to Saturday. But it isn't.

The staff are nice but you walk into an entrance practically blocked with cheap goods piled high on your right and into a space which is crammed with DVDs, boxes, flowers with hardly any room to breathe, then into the main body of the shop which quite frankly is dark and dingy.

You constantly bump into piles of produce in the middle of the aisles.

OK so Jempsons will renovate the store but is it worth their while when it is clear another supermarket is probably planning it opening in Rye this year?

One that caters in every way for the discerning 21st century shopper and one that does not let religion dictate its opening hours.

JULIA FARRINGTON

New Winchelsea Road

Jempsons right to make stand

I AM not a religious person but I agree with nearly every word of the case made by the Jempson brothers in last week's paper, supporting their stand against Sunday trading.

However, I don't understand the inclusion of a photograph of them with the prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate.

Not a word from Ms Rudd appears in the article but the clear implication of including her in the picture is that she supports the Jempson's case. Does she? Or is it an indication of support for the Conservative party by Jempsons?

The Jempson brothers are perfectly right to point to the damaging social effects of the 24/7 culture, particularly on shop workers and their families.

They refer to the views of USDAW, the shop worker's union, and the fact that in reality people are now given no choice but to agree to work on Sundays, not just in retail but in other parts of the economy.