Letter: Many issues that must be tackled

Parking issues, hospital issues, saturating the county with new houses, no provision being made in putting anything in place to cope with the influx of new people to the county, shortage of schools - infants, juniors and senior - charging for green waste, they don’t always answer correspondence etc...

Southwater is over-run with new developments - the Worthing Road is manic with traffic and still no crossing has been put in place to allow school children/people to cross that road safely at each end of the village - but the council has turned a blind eye to this.

It can’t even write back with an explanation as to why. Also, the parking at the Southwater shops is a bursting point! Again, no explanation.

The other day I had to take my daughter to the doctors at Park Surgery, Horsham.

Appointment was at 9.45am. I decided that it was logical to park at the car park next to the surgery. I parked my car and went over to the machine to pay my £1 fee for an hour.

When I got to the machine a tiny group of people had gathered - all waiting for 10am,as this is when the machine will take your money.

You can’t pay anything before then - when parking I didn’t realise that this was the case.

As it was 9.40am I took the decision to go into the doctors and hoped we could be out by 9.55am - unfortunately myself and my two young daughters (eight and ten) were still waiting to go in.

I was concerned that I may get a parking ticket once we were having our appointment, so said to the girls to sit in surgery and if the doctor called I won’t be a minute.

I ran back to the car park - still people gathering awaiting 10am.

As luck would have it, the parking marshall was wandering slowly towards machine.

As he approached I asked if I could please put the £1 coin on my dashboard/or give him the £1 - as I had left my daughters in the surgery.

He said ‘No you can’t’.

I said the machine doesn’t work before 10am for some reason.

He said ‘No’.

Then this very very kind gentleman stepped forward - in front of everyone he said, ‘If you give me your £1 I will get your ticket’ and so I did just that - and he said he would put it under the wiper blade.

I ran back to the surgery and still hadn’t been called. Still waiting, this very kind gentleman walked into the surgery and found me, he said that he paid for my ticket and all the other fee paying personnel were his witness in front of the marshall.

So another moan to the council - are you training your staff right?

‘Mr Incharge of the Council’ - you need to start getting things right and thinking what is important in the county to make it ‘stress-free living’.

I think the the County Times could do with a section called ‘Council Corner’!

K. MATTHEWS

Millfield, Southwater