Your letters: Parking fines in Henley town centre could be higher

Parking fines could be higher

Sir, — It is good to know that the parking situation in Henley must be improving with all the fines handed out and those affected not offending again (Standard, January 23).

I am, however, bemused about the claim in the article that Henley has parking wardens that are permanently in town. Some years ago, Henley Town Council had two traffic wardens and improper and illegal parking improved no end.

Since Oxfordshire County Council took over the parking enforcement in Henley we had a parking lady permanently. However, she has since left the service. If you ask the few and far between parking attendants when they are in town, they always say they have had to drive in from elsewhere.

The reality is that parking fines in Henley could be much higher were there a permanent enforcement presence in town. You only have to look at the double yellow lines on the side of Market Place and at the bottom of the town hall, which are constantly full of cars from people not able to walk a few paces further from either of the town centre car parks, even though there is an hour’s free parking offered. This is enough time to go and have a coffee or to do a shop in Bell or Duke Street.

I suppose the county council does not need this revenue which, in an ideal world, could be beneficially used in the pot for road maintenance. — Yours faithfully,

F Pryce

Station Road, Henley

Time for new world order

Sir, — Who would have thought that, after a career as a central banker, Mark Carney could have distinguished himself as a world leader? His call for medium-sized powers to understand that the former world order has disappeared is the most honest and productive call to come out of Davos 2026.

Trump is highly misunderstood by anyone who describes him as erratic and unpredictable. Trump is completely predictable, with no question of him deviating from his natural behaviour. He is only interested in his own immediate gratification, which involves being as disruptive as possible to anyone over whom he considers he has influence.

Carney stood up to Trump. Carney made preparations for the Canadian economy to wean itself off its dependency on the USA. Of course, this is not complete, and there may be hard days ahead for Canada. But Carney’s direction is the only rational response to the behaviours of the USA under Trump and his ilk.

It is unlikely that Trump will lead the USA for very long. Even if he defies the US Constitution and manages to circumvent the two-term limit, as a man in his late Seventies with diminishing cognitive capacity, he won’t be in the White House for the next 20 years.

But what he has already done is demonstrate to all politicians that a democracy is fundamentally based on tolerance and goodwill, and that aggressive politicians can dispense with these. There are no guardrails to protect against disreputable politicians. Consequently, we can expect more Trump-like behaviours to follow him.

In any event, it has been highly remiss of our politicians to have allowed our economy, our technology, and our defence to become so dependent on anyone outside our own country.

We have to stop looking to the USA for leadership. We have to develop our own technology. We have to make deals with many other countries. We are no longer a great empire, nor are we the “great buddies” of the current great empire. The “special relationship” with the USA was a vainglorious fantasy.

Like Canada, we have to work with many medium-sized powers and others too, to build a new world order. Isn’t it interesting that we are being taught this lesson from a former colony?

Our future is as bright as ever but it is not linked to any other single nation. — Yours faithfully,

Dan Remenyi

Kidmore End

PS Insulting our troops is highly annoying and just so predictable.

Further impact of station loss

I was unable to make the recent public meeting (Standard, January 23) due to ill health.

Please be aware: One thing which I haven’t seen mentioned is that Henley fire station has an arrangement with Berkshire Fire Service to be “on call” for major incidents in Berkshire to assist their services.

There is an amendment to the Road Traffic Act for Henley fire service to allow them to use the one-way street in Market Place (outside Gabriel Machin) the wrong way to access Henley Bridge in a Berkshire emergency.

As a retired town councillor, I’ve seen this happen a number of times to the horror of motorists!

If we lost the fire station it would not only reduce services in Henley but also, dangerously, for large fires in Berkshire. — Yours faithfully,

Martin Akehurst

Two Tree Hill, Henley

Progress with station parking

There has long been a lack of sufficient car parking spaces at Twyford railway station. A small group of us recently raised a petition for Wokingham borough residents to urge the council to engage more robustly with Great Western Railway (GWR) to assess the parking needs and review possible solutions.

Nearly 2,000 residents signed and the petition was presented to the borough council back in November. It resulted in a motion for debate at the council and this was debated on January 22. It received cross-party support from the two main parties – the Lib-Dems and Conservatives. The motion in part calls for the council to work more robustly on assessing the demand, develop plans and to convene a cross-party working group to monitor and support this project with a progress report in May this year.

While there was an anti-car lobby by some councillors, the sheer practicalities of access for many residents on both sides of the river really means car use becomes essential for them.

The attraction of using Twyford has increased since the GWR service to Paddington became faster and the Elizabeth Line success has given passengers new direct access to many places. We will keep your readers updated on progress.

The main issues are finance and finding a new larger location for parking close to the station. We are now confident the borough administration can be held to account for progress towards a solution. — Yours faithfully,

Angus Ross

Laureate Gardens, Henley

Former Wokingham Borough Council councillor

Reconsider island plan

Sir — I agree with David Bartholomew’s letter (Standard, January 16) about the camping island at Shiplake Lock. It’s absolute folly to do away with this incredible place, an environmentally kind and nurturing community for so many years and clearly valued by the rest of Shiplake. There are other ways than what is proposed to allow it to be shared by a wider range of people. The current plan should definitely be reconsidered. — Yours faithfully,

Catherine Rubinstein

Harpsden

Joined-up thinking

Sir, — What a pity that, when traffic lights were installed at the Northfield End junction before Christmas for four days causing serious traffic disruption, for works that took place on one day for less than an hour, the opportunity was not taken to resurface the road. The potholes and road surface on the two mini-roundabouts at Northfield End are atrocious and becoming dangerous. They need attention urgently. — Yours faithfully,

Charlotte Every

Skirmett

Memories of wartime

With reference to your article about Ches Black’s experience in the war (Standard, January 23), I was reminded of my lovely uncle who is sadly no longer with us.

He also lived in Poland at the outbreak of the Second World War and was forced into the German Army.

He recounted once how he remembered being forced to bury some SS troops.

He was injured in the Russian campaign. While in hospital he escaped and ended up in England and joined our forces in fighting the Nazis in Italy. — Yours faithfully,

Tyrone Trimmings

Henley

Amazing care and facilities

Sir, — I just wanted to acknowledge the amazing health facilities we have here in Henley.

I fell at the gym (totally my fault as I wasn’t concentrating) and was immediately approached by a fellow gym-goer who offered to fetch me an ice pack and then alerted one of the gym staff. As I could weight bear, I thought it was nothing more than soft tissue damage.

The following morning, my ankle was very swollen, was starting to bruise and the ankle bone was incredibly painful to touch. I completed a triage form at 7am, submitted it to the Hart Surgery and was seen by Dr Anderson at 10am who, after a thorough and careful examination, advised that I needed an X-ray.

I attended Townlands Memorial Hospital at 11am and by noon, I had been diagnosed as having a fractured ankle and had been discharged in an ankle brace and with a set of self-care instructions/exercises.

What amazing care and facilities we have in our local area. — Yours faithfully,

Name and address supplied

Good for your health

Sir, — I was most interested in the health articles in the January 16 edition of the Henley Standard.

Article 1: Paul Davies on his various treatments for prostate cancer. I can also relate to this as I also have prostate cancer and having had an operation and many other treatments over the last 19 years, thanks to the excellent treatment from the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

Article 2: Your Women’s Health columnist, Dr Shilpa McQuillan. She referenced smear tests and breast screening tests for ladies in their fifties. I have a daughter in this age group and she has had checks also at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

As I lived with my parents in Henley some years ago, I take the Henley Standard so as to keep up to date with the things going on. I do read the various interesting articles and the letters. Thank you for producing such a good paper. — Yours faithfully,

Peter Giles

Earley