I HAVE read many articles over the last few weeks about rubbish but the best one was the article about Warwick trying to become a city (Courier, April 11).
As a matter of interest Coun Elizabeth Higgins was correct about cities normally having a cathedral but the other councillors who told her that Nottingham wasn't a city were incorrect.
Nottingham has the St Barnabas' Cathedral and a look at www.u
kcities.co.uk will provide them with a list of all UK cities if they bother to search for them.
Warwick is by no means a suitable candidate for cityship at this time - what has it got going for it apart from the castle. Remove all the restaurants/coffee houses, take-aways and antique shops and all that is left is a few small independent stores - absolutely nothing to attract tourists, apart from the castle and Lord Leycester Hospital and a few other small attractions.
When I moved here 28 years ago I tried to find out about the English Civil War in this area and visited the Information Centre, only to be met with someone who didn't even know anything about the fact that it was just down the road at Edgehill that the war started - apart from King Charles first raising his standard at Nottingham.
If it hadn't been for the late, great Peter Dix there would have been nothing about the English Civil War at all. I regularly used to visit his museum at Farnborough and it was significant that when he died, so did the museum.
If Warwickshire wants to attract tourists and encourage locals to visit places they should do something more to publicise such events. Why did they not take over that museum and run it as a tourist attraction - the American's would have flocked there because of their penchant for 'quaint English' historical connections.
Why haven't they done more to take over the Old Leper Hospital and renovate it. If the current owner won't do anything, it should be compulsorarily purchased and renovated. It is an eyesore and a disgrace - not a good advertisement for Warwick.
The local tourist board spends too much time and money pushing Stratford upon Avon and seems to ignore Warwick completely.
At the council meeting, town council leader Coun Guest was quoted as stating that more tourists and shoppers would be attracted to Warwick as a city. What a load of rubbish.
What makes him think that a change in name/status will attract any more people to the town - oops, city.
There is nothing going for Warwick and there won't be until the town councillors stop trying to find more ways to waste our money on hairbrained schemes and do something to improve the towns historical connections properly.
Most of the time publicity for events in the area that would attract tourists is abysmal. We only find out after the event when photographs and articles appear in the local newspapers saying that something has occurred the previous weekend.
There have been many occasions over the years that I have missed events that I would have attended had I known about them and I am sure there are many others in the same position.
The Market Square project was a waste of money and is not attractive to visitors or locals unless they want to sit outside a pub eating and drinking.
Who wants to look at that monstrocity that is Shire Hall?
How much of the town council's portion of our council tax will be wasted on 'jollies' to visit other cities to find out what they have done to obtain their status - bear in mind that these were often granted many hundreds of years ago and the current councillors probably won't know anything.
Come on councillors, find something more worthwhile to spend your time discussing and do something for Warwick which is attainable.
Stop trying to boost your status to city councillors which is probably the main idea for the plan. - Richard Jones, Arras Boulevard, Hampton Magna.
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