Cutting corners leads the country to Raac and ruin

I HAVE nothing but sympathy for all the homeowners who bought properties some years back and found out recently that they were built with Raac concrete.

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It was cheap and easy to work with but it only had a 30-year lifespan, which is very little in building terms. They invested everything and their future is up against a brick wall.

They can't move. They can't sell and a compulsory purchase order would give them very little and dwarf true market value.

The substance resembles that of a bar of Aero chocolate and is now breaking up like a jigsaw.

It reminds me of potholes. Even today, in order to save money, councils will carry out jobs using the cheapest materials possible.

Where I stay, many streets were resurfaced a few years ago and within months they started breaking up and millions of little stones are now evident on the surface, and in wet weather it is like trudging through a tarmac-type quagmire.

Incidentally a couple of years later the council resurfaced an adjacent street using better quality materials and today it is still as smooth as a billiard table.

Take note. This is one country that invests in false economy. Either do it right or not at all.

Bring good medics in

IT BEGGARS belief to hear people say the number of nurses and doctors in our NHS has been increased. So tell me why there are so many reports from these exhausted professionals that they are still understaffed?