How Decisions Are Made
Town councillors are objecting to Burgess Hill proposals for development because it is "a gross overdevelopment of the site and will reduce parking in the area." Hooray, an end to the Better Mid Sussex project. Well, no, not quite. This is all regarding plans for a new factory unit in Victoria Road.

Whoever has made this application should take note of the Middy Mailbag this week. For Hemraj Mahadeo of Haywards Heath has discovered that for the lease on Cyprus Road, MSDC is to be paid £880,000 by Thornfield Properties. Property developers please take note! Come on council, you're wasting an opportunity - why not publish a bribe price-list for planning permission and how much it costs to ride roughshod over public opinion? Councillors may try to pretend they are neutral on the Better Mid Sussex project, but they are clearly not.

We heard that councillors are "broadly in favour" of the project, but now with residents ready to question those in power, they are all turning on each other. The town council has condemned planners for their "unprofessional approach". They have condemned that there were only two days on which "experts" were on hand to discuss the plans. You have to give Thornfield Properties some credit here; although they only sent the office juniors to answer questions, at least they sent someone.

Where were the people from MSDC? And it's no good the town councillors claiming they aren't responsible; so often the town councillors and district councillors are the same people. Of our 18 town councillors, 6 were in attendance at a district council meeting on 9 March when a member of the public asked awkward questions about Thornfield's expensive purchase of Cyprus Road car-park. It seems some of our elected representatives have selective amnesia.

Teeth
Mid Sussex Primary Care Trust has floated the suggestion that we should have fluoride in our water, as standards of dental care are in decline. Maybe they should try and find more NHS dentists, me thinks.

As for fluoridation, I am the only person I know who had flouride treatment as a child. This quack medicine was prescribed by an NHS dentist, although watching my parents handing over 5 and 10 pound notes, clearly not free. You had to sit biting for some time into two trays filled with some gunge, which was dispensed out of what looked like school paint bottles. You were given a choice of flavour. I remember there was strawberry and grape amongst others. It tasted vile, and I always wondered if I could have had plain flouride-tasting gunge instead.

As for improving my dental health, I would recommend these experts who believe in fluoridation examine my teeth and its 14 fillings, fillings made out of mercury, which may well be poisonous. However my dentist was an extremely rich man and a Lloyds name, so his well-being was beyond question.

Fluoridation is dangerous to the elderly and causes brittle bones, but since the funding will come from the government, who view OAPs as a bunch of ungrateful whingers, moaning about council tax and burdening the government with their pensions, it wouldn't surprise me if we got it.

If the trust wants to improve the life chances of local people, can we have our A&E back?