Here are five letters published in the Echo this week:

Shutting school will have a huge impact

HI, I’m a very unhappy parent of a child going to King Edmund School in Rochford.

Only just having found out that the school is now being closed until January 2023 at the earliest, I’m appalled by the badly thought out situation and damage to my child’s education.

What are they long term health issues to everyone? Surely this should have been surveyed far more thoroughly and planned better than it appears to have been.

The Department for Education have been very lacking in their communication with the parents.

The educational work set at present is in my opinion not up to standard and like the lockdown situation I fear my child’s education ability will go backwards.

Some form of lessons are allegedly being planned but no real plan has come forth yet.

There’s the financial damage being done to working people like myself. Things are massively hard financially at the moment without this being thrown at parents.

My child is too young to be left on her own and I can’t take her to work, so my option is not to not work and face hardship or pay for child care.

I paid for school transport but no refund is on offer or any help!

If your child misses school, the authorise come down on you like a tonne of bricks or fine you but here the Department of Education have just shut the school and parents have just got to lump it.

Surely the Department for Education should be made accountable, children’s health and teachers’ health could have been put at risk, parents face financial hardship and children’s educational standards could fall.

It is very frustrating for me as a parent.

SJ SHADBOLT

By email

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More street trees facing the axe

IT appears that a large number of trees have been identified as needing to be felled in Rochester Drive, Westcliff.

This is not because they are diseased or damaged but because it will impede the laying of tarmac on the pavements.

Some of these trees survived the 1987 storm while others were replaced following the storm and are now well established. Who knows how much carbon dioxide they collect or how much water they soak up to prevent flooding?

I am totally amazed that, with so much talk in the media about global warming etc, the council are proceeding with the chopping down of healthy trees because it is easier for the contractors.

The only way we as residents got to hear about this was the sudden appearance of notices on the selected trees days or weeks before work is due to start removing paving stones to lay horrible tarmac.

The irony is that the notice is signed “we love trees”!

Not only are we going to have ugly tarmac pavements but no trees to soften the landscape – concrete jungle comes to mind.

Rochester Drive is a busy cut through to Tesco and the A127, used by a large number of children walking to Earls Hall Primary School so anything that prevents air pollution, even a little, has got to be seen as beneficial to both the environment and the public.

RITA AND RAY NOYCE

Rochester Drive, Westcliff

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We just can’t cope with more residents

IN yesterday’s Echo there was an article about two blocks of flats being built in Sutton Road and the NHS stated that this would put a strain on its services. In the same paper Southend Council published a public notice over 911 residential units next to Waitrose.

This just does not make any sense.

This will put a very heavy strain on the infrastructure of the town and its services. GP surgeries are already at breaking point, dental practices can’t fit anymore customers, the roads can’t handle this amount of traffic as it is and schools just can’t handle it either.

We have a hospital with waiting times well over the time limits given so what sense does this make?

I know we need homes for our local residents but these homes won’t house people waiting for homes in Southend, they will merely encourage more outsiders to move to Southend, and to top it all most likely we will find a rise in our crime figures.

It is time to take a pause and sort out what we already have and not add to it. It makes more sense then creating more problems.

KB HUMPHRIES

Archer Avenue, Southend

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Help with rising energy bills

IT is predicted that many people will be struggling this winter with the increased costs of their energy bills.

With these concerns in mind, I was therefore pleased to learn that over 27 million homes have now received money off their energy bills thanks to the Government’s “Energy Bills Support Scheme”.

Launched in October, this is providing households with a £400 discount, through six monthly instalments, on their energy bills.

The upcoming payment will bring the total amount spent on the scheme to £3.8billion pounds.

COUNCILLOR STEVE BUCKLEY

Borman Close, Eastwood

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No need to ‘fix’ Vic House roundabout

I’VE driven safely around the Vic House Corner roundabout in Hadleigh regularly for 30 years with no problems.

Yes, sometimes it can get very busy. The previous road lane markings worked fine far as I’m concerned…I’d say “if it’s not broke, then don’t fix it”.

The new lane markings are now creating traffic back up from the A13 approach road, heading east, potentially causing more accidents.

What can cause the occasional accident there (I’ve never seen one) is the impatient driver who is running late.

Drivers just need remember, all you are doing is racing up to the next red traffic light after all.

WILLY RICHARDS

Benfleet