Here are six letters published in the Echo this week:

Dimming lights - is it a problem?

SO Southend Council plans to dim the street lights to save some money. At least they’re not being turned off like the rest of Essex.

Is it really a problem? I don’t think so.

I just hope they continue to be on in areas like Leigh Broadway and the High Street which can be quite intimidating after dark because there is generally lots of people milling around.

P PRYDE 

Paying for the loo is just not practical

SOUTHEND Council is thinking of charging people to use the toilets. Have they really thought this through? Do they really want to dissuade the elderly and young families to visit Southend?

How about the disabled, who may have disabilities that force them to use the loo more than more fortunate folk? Are they to be penalised for that?

I have two sons with disabilities. We have to plan our trips out around where they can go to the toilet. If we have to pay for each visit it will add up really quickly.

Businesses that serve food are required to offer toilets to their customers. If there are no free public conveniences that are going to be swamped with unwanted visitors.

They pay business rates so the council can provide facilities for customers, so they can make an honest living.

JACK COWARD

Eastwood Road, Rayleigh

Open up Canvey’s third road now

SO the £8.2billion Lower Thames crossing “takes a leap forward”. That’s good news indeed for all the daily M25 road queuing motorists, especially those suffering financial loss siting every day in long traffic queues.

But meanwhile, within the big picture please spare a few coppers, guv, for the thousands of Canvey Islander’s who sit hours on end (also suffering loss) stuck in traffic jams, following any incident that happens along their single lane (on/off the island) busy main road.

So let’s open up the already in situ Canvey to Stanford area link road now. Sooner rather than later, it’s inevitable.

WILLY RICHARDS

Benfleet

Beware of 111 phone scam

THE other day we received a phone call which told us that someone at our address had phoned 111.

For further information we should dial 9. We had not dialled 111 lately so I put the phone down.

I think this is a particularly cruel scam, since it targets vulnerable people. A lady I know said that having had dealings with 111 lately she would certainly have fallen for it.

I hope all your readers are aware that a genuine caller from the NHS, your bank or anywhere else would know your name and would not ask you to ring them back.

Dialling 9 could lead to your phone line being hijacked, so you could be charged for expensive foreign calls or calls to premium rate numbers.

CHRISTINE BURDEN

Via email

Everyone jumping on strike bandwagon

ANOTHER very good letter from P Pryde regarding the strikes that are topical at the moment.

Everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon, all wanting ridiculous amounts of money.

Perhaps some are of the opinion that a money tree exists and with one shake more appears.

At the end of the day the treasury has only a certain amount to be dished out, regardless of whom is running the government.

STEVE CHURCH

Rayleigh

Teach responsible pet ownership

I AM writing to encourage animal lovers to join the Blue Cross education volunteer team to teach the next generation of pet owners about responsible pet ownership and welfare.

Sadly, many pets in the UK suffer simply because their owner hasn’t understood their individual needs and I believe that by educating and empowering young people today we can greatly improve the health and happiness of pets in the future.

So, if you love pets and talking to groups of children and young people about how to care for them why not sign up to be a volunteer speaker today? Visit: bluecross. org.uk to find out more.

CHRIS PACKHAM TV

Presenter and Blue Cross Education ambassador