Council's college proposals are appalling (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Council's college proposals are appalling

10:21am Thursday 8th June 2006 in

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SIR, - I am appalled at Bradford College's discriminatory treatment of Adult Education students in Wharfedale, and the proposed closure of Burley Grange. Students have not been provided with facts as to:- 1 Which courses will be available in Ilkley and the day and time of the courses, 2 The cost of the courses 3 When the 2006/07 prospectus will be available 4 The real reasons why changes are being proposed by the college principal, particularly as similar changes are not being proposed by Shipley or Craven Colleges.

I understand that the proposed transfer of all courses from Burley Grange to Ilkley's Bridge House is impossible because of the Health and Safety constraints on the number of persons permitted to be inside Bridge House at any one time. Bridge House is already used to its maximum except on Friday afternoon and Friday evening. So, which courses are proposed for axeing?

The 2006/07 fees will be subsidised for courses in Bradford but courses in Wharfedale will not. This is discriminatory. Courses in Wharefedale should be cheaper than Bradford's because the savings from the proposed Burley closure should accrue only to Wharfedale students. Also, students will have further to travel as a result of the venue closure.If course fees are increased by the reported 300per cent there will be insufficient students and the courses will be cancelled. Hence, a loss of income to the College.

Courses in Bradford will continue to be accredited but courses in Wharfedale will not.

However, a loss of accreditation should be cost saving as it should reduce administration. This is further discrimination of Wharfedale students.

We are told that the demise of Burley Grange is intended to be cost saving, but the closure of a venue should be to reduce losses, otherwise the closure should not be proposed.

However, the reduction in courses will result in a reduction in income and therefore increased losses. Bradford College should be seeking to maximise income by increasing the number of courses.

Bradford College has only a short lease on Ilkley's Bridge House, so further cutbacks will be proposed in a few years.

This appears to be the first phase of a plan to terminate all adult education classes in Wharfedale - both in Burley-in-Wharfedale and Ilkley.

COLIN LUGTON The Coppice,Ilkley.

No more coffee

SIR, - So, Costa Coffee want to invade Ilkley now! (Ilkley Gazette, June 1)???!

The one thing this town does not need is (yet another) coffee shop, least of all one belonging to some vast, impersonal chain. If this goes through, I shall be forced to conclude that the planning committee has finally lost the plot.

Anyway, what is wrong with Martin's, who, although themselves a chain, provide competition with W H Smith, and are in a good location.

Where else is my husband going to purchase a teddy bear at six o'clock in the morning?

CAROLINE SMITH Full address supplied.

Festival tributes

SIR, - I should like to pay tribute to the very many people who have helped to make this year's Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts one of the best and most successful in recent years.

There are so many different components all working together to create an event which is described by the British and International Federation of Music Festivals as the jewel in the crown of the Federation Festivals".

We are justly proud of this soubriquet, and of the many members of our team who have all helped us to earn it. All the platform, adjudicators', house and box office stewards, the scribes, our in-house' caterers and the staff at the Christchurch Coffee Centre, as well as all at the Kings Hall, Christchurch, All Saints and the Baptist Church, who are all so welcoming and cannot do enough to help us, deserve the highest commendation for their support and commitment.

Our accompanists, who work so hard for weeks beforehand practising own choices' and whose own performances are second to none, are stars in the Wharfedale firmament and only serve to enhance the fine reputation of the Festival.

To everyone who put themselves out in any way to oil the wheels' and ensure the smooth-running of the week's events; to Denis, who kept the box-offices ticking over with fresh floats and ticket supplies and did so much more, both prior to, and during the week of the festival; to our sponsors and advertisers; to the staff at the Tourist Information Centre and to Paul and Mel at the Ilkley Gazette for their enthusiastic support, I should like to offer a huge thank you.

The festival has been blessed by particularly strong support from our own Ilkley Parish Council, promoted by Councillor Mike Gibbons. We have again received major sponsorship from the Craiglands Hotel, and their support is appreciated beyond all words. We owe them both unbounded gratitude.

An event of this magnitude could just not take place without all the wonderful people above-mentioned, and I want to thank each and every one. They all have an essential part to play in the festival organisation.

For further information about the Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts, please contact the Secretary at any time on 872067.

Mrs E M SHARP Secretary,Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts.

Far from calming

SIR, - Traffic calming may be the in phrase but are badly constructed road bumps really the answer?

They irritate back problems, damage car suspensions and also cause pollution with cars having to slow down and then accelerating after the bumps.

While most drivers persevere with these bumps a small minority do not seem to notice them or the 20mph limit.

A smooth flow of traffic on a smooth road with speed cameras for the drivers who think that the speed limit does not apply to them is one answer.

Speed bumps are causing an estimated £1.5 billion damage to British cars every year, a survey by insurers Privilege revealed last week.

RESIDENT Burley-in-Wharfedale.

Name and address supplied.

Stones raffle

SIR, - I've always been a fan of the Rolling Stones and would like to alert your readers who may also be fans of the band to an unmissable opportunity, which will also benefit one of my favourite charities, the National Society for Epilepsy (NSE).

NSE is raffling the 1969 original Let It Bleed' Rolling Stones album signed by Mick Jagger, Bill Whyman, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards and Mick Taylor. The album comes in a presentation frame and is authenticated.

Tickets, costing £1 each or £5 for a book, are available form NSE's fundraising department on (01494) 601410 or online at www.epilepsynse.org.uk/onlineshop. The draw takes place on August 23 2006.

All the money raised will go to NSE's Seahorse Appeal raising funds for epilepsy a condition which affects almost half a million people in the UK.

BILL NIGHY, Celebrity Ambassador, National Society for Epilepsy,Chesham Lane, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks, SL9 0RJ,

Future of Moor

SIR, - Thanks to a cobbler from Kent and a group of picnickers, Ilkley's moor became internationally famous. Another turn in the life of this ancient lump is taking place and folks hereabouts should be knowing about it. It's no good sitting back doing nowt and expecting a few to do all the talking. Now is the time for the WHOLE community, here and abroad, to come together.

The future of your town and moor lays open and, as I said in my last letter, that could be disastrous if the wrong decisions are taken.

There has been talk of a public meeting. I call on our parish council, all elected volunteers don't forget, to hold such a meeting before everyone goes on holiday.

September is only a few weeks away; the stakes are high and so is the revenue. We are looking at very big money to look after Ilkley Moor and it's national monuments. Not the odd grant here or there.

Yorkshire folk fought long and hard for their county in the past. Time has come to polish those spades and show the rest of the world we mean business.

FRAZER IRWIN Queen's Road,Ilkley.

Call for bypass

SIR, - Can it really be that the coroner, in dealing last week with the fatal crash on the Moor Road, said that a 30mph speed limit in this scenic place would allow them (presumably drivers) to enjoy a better view and be safer?

If it is so, then I am amazed. Over the last 40 years, this town and the A65 have suffered from the rule of thumb experts' (or politicians), professionals in whom we can have little confidence, and the NIMBYs who jointly have kept a bypass away to the detriment of most residents.

Without the negative effects caused by these groups, the A65 might have been engineered to cope with the traffic levels that it now sees and thus, the Moor Road, among others, would not suffer from daily rat running.

Additionally, the traffic queues that the professionals say don't occur in Ilkley would really go away, whilst the smog from stationary cars that blight the road regularly would also be gone.

It's high time for some realism from politicians, highways engineers and central government as piecemeal fiddling with 20mph limits, sleeping policemen, mini-roundabouts and road restrictions will only make the situation worse.

There are plenty of good examples from other communities on the A65 where traffic problems have been of a lower magnitude that ours have - but bypasses have been provided.

H MOORE 269 Leeds Road,Ilkley.