Letters to the Editor

SIR, - There are important issues for the wider Ilkley area that Councillor Simon Cooke's public insult should not obscure.

Councillor Lynne Joyce - the victim of Cooke's folly - had urged our district council to fulfil its responsibilities by ensuring that new developments are designed to inhibit crime. Lynne also declared the Conservative-controlled council was not using its powers to oblige commercial developments to install CCTV cameras of adequate quality, wherever that would improve public safety.

By providing their bargain basement approach to development, the council was contributing to disorder in our district and creating liabilities on the council in the future.

Those obligations are within the Crime and Disorder Act made into law by the Labour Government to enable councils to take those actions.

Dealing with crime and disorder is part of a policy divide between Labour and Conservative Councillors. Lynne and her colleagues place a higher priority on preventive actions to discourage bad behaviour and crime.

We need to make the public environments in our district as safe as possible, creating more tranquil communities which respect everyone's rights and property.

Labour councillors want developers and our council to be part of that solution, with active plans for security underpinning actions to promote community cohesion. All this is part of the wide-ranging programme of being tough on the causes of crime, rather than just being tough on the few individuals caught by old-fashioned methods.

Because Ilkley is one of the most influential Conservative held wards in the district, this folly becomes particularly relevant in our area.

Whilst disorder hereabouts is at a lower level, public disorder and crimes in public areas are an important issue. Councillor Joyce's proposals should be adopted.

Cooke's folly also creates the opportunity to reflect on the behaviour of all public figures. Repellent behaviour by community leaders inevitably attracts attention. Such gestures are dramatic news, and cannot be covered up. Unfortunately, rude gestures also create the impression that other anti-social behaviours are somehow acceptable. They are not.

All of us want Ilkley's reputation to be a tranquil and friendly area that welcomes visitors, traders and investors. Councillor Lynne Joyce has urged our Conservative Council to act more directly to achieve tranquillity throughout the district. We should support her campaign.

Andrew Dundas

Chairman,

Keighley and Ilkley

Labour Party,

35 Devonshire Street,

Keighley,

BD21 2BH.

No levy poll

SIR, - Parish council chairman Kate Brown's letter (April 22) says that the parish council was not required to have a referendum before she and other parish councillors decided to levy a precept.

But equally the parish council was not required to even levy a precept - except by a practical need to meet administrative costs.

So they 'cherry-picked'. They levied a precept without being required to do so; but they did not require Bradford Council to hold a poll, which the parish council could have done.

Could it be that the parish council chose to listen to the district's councillors and officers - rather than listen to the people in Ilkley whom they claim to represent, and who are being forced to pay this extra tax?

The claim that opening the books for two weeks out of 52 weeks is good enough for telling us what is happening with our money is the sort of claim that has brought so many people to regard local government as not being worth their attention.

The parish newsletter is supposed to keep us all fully informed about what the parish council does - but evidently not to keep us fully informed about how much money has been collected, how it has been spent, and what these projects are that are 'in the pipeline'.

That information should be in the next newsletter. Otherwise that information is effectively being kept from us.

The letter from Mr Owen Wells totally misses the point. I say that those people who have been given money from the parish precept to spend in any way on their own sports and recreations should pay for their pleasures themselves - and not stretch out their hands for precept money.

Mr Owen Wells is evidently complaisant about paying extra tax to pay for other people to spend on their amusements. Or has he got a special 'interest' to declare?

EDWIN SCHIRN

Victoria Grove,

Ilkley.

Flood fear

SIR, - May we suggest an alternative to the proposed 'bund' or embankment as a way of preventing overnight stays on land adjacent to the stepping stones and owned by the Ilkley Angling Association?

The road alongside the proposed bund is often flooded as a result of surface water discharging from Carters Lane. The effect of the embankment will be to retain water on the road, in spite of drains through the bund, as these will soon be blocked by debris.

Neither the bund nor the area within it can be maintained with machinery as the former will be too steep to mow and the latter will have no access for tractors. There will be a rapid intrusion by weeds (including ragwort) on the seeded are and the covering of the bund with brambles and scrub.

An eyesore will be the result and this will be exacerbated by the fly-tipping that it will encourage. It seems unlikely that the site will be attractive to occasional picnickers, but if they do arrive there will only be parking for them on the road, which is often used by fast traffic.

For the above reasons we urge the Angling Association to consider the alternative of installing a set of concrete embedded wooden posts at five foot intervals around the site, which would be sufficient to deter overnight visitors but at the same time retain the open character of the site.

JIM and GRIET

BUTTERFIELD

30, Valley Drive,

Ilkley.

Traffic issue

SIR, - I am one of the many people working or passing through Ilkley from Silsden before 9am during the week and have taken note of the new traffic lights at the bottom of Victoria Avenue.

The sign says: "To ease congestion in the town centre". What about the congestion just prior to Victoria Avenue?

The traffic is queuing back to the Addingham bypass and there is no way one can even make the speed limit of 40mph on that road. I sat within sight of the traffic lights this morning and noticed that they changed three times before I finally came to cross these lights because of vehicles wanting to turn right up Victoria Avenue.

I suggest that the powers that be change the system so that there is no right turn from the Skipton side of Ilkley up Victoria Avenue, thereby making the road clear for vehicles from Skipton able to approach Ilkley more quickly.

People wanting to access Victoria Avenue could turn right up Easby Drive, not a long way along the road, where there is a central lane to wait to run right, to ease the congestion at Victoria Avenue. I am sure many people would welcome this amendment.

While I am on the subject of the roads in Ilkley, in my opinion, it would be a good idea to keep The Grove as a one-way system, as it is at the moment.

I welcome comments from any other readers on this subject.

Mrs Christine Corrison

46 Bridge Street,

Silsden.

Moderation

SIR, - Oh dear, in his haste to do damage with a poisoned political pen Mr Best has once again confused fiction with fact.

The point of my letter of April 8 was not to object to provision for disabled access in all cases but to seek a commonsense balance on how public money should be spent.

My input to the application in respect of ramps to Ilkley Town Hall was to express caution about two ramps as (a) ramps are dangerous in icy weather and (b) many people can cope better with steps than ramps.

The parish committee then recommended 'deferral for site visit.' To the best of my knowledge this never came back to parish but to this day I regret that the architect in charge of the final design did not have the wit to create a symmetrical handrail which could have been done, even incorporating steps.

An excellent letter in a daily newspaper this week confirms my paragraph about the constraints on voluntary workers - in particular on a church secretary's duties - by the plethora of legislation.

Similarly, Sir Trevor Phillips has done a U-turn recently about the benefit (or otherwise) of extreme Race Relation diktats.

The point is, moderation - and commonsense - in all things.

B J CUSSONS

4, Curly Hill,

Ilkley.

Blot on moor

SIR, - What a blot on the landscape our beauty spot has become. The land surrounding the Cow and Calf Rocks and to the east of the Cow and Calf Hotel is a sea of non-biodegradable litter.

The seriousness of the problem is particularly apparent at this time of the year, when the bracken has died back. The council does an excellent job at clearing rubbish by the river, yet ignores the Cow and Calf - the other heavily visited area. The policy that people should take their litter home clearly does not work.

No-one would wish to see the moor covered in black City of Bradford litter bins but surely a couple of discreetly fenced large wheelie bins, emptied regularly, would improve the situation? Something needs to be done.

Let's hope the judges for the Ilkley in Bloom do not choose to visit via the scenic route - we will have no chance!

Rachel Barker

32 Wheatley Avenue,

Ben Rhydding,

Ilkley.

Army plea

SIR, - I am writing to you on behalf of 260 Signal Squadron (SAM) Royal Signals Association. We are trying to trace more than 300 ex-soldiers who served with 260 Signal Squadron (SAM), 654 Signal Squadron (SAGW) and 655 Signal Squadron (SAGW) in the period 1962-1977.

Our squadron, which was formed at Shoebury, Essex, in April 1968, was disbanded in Dortmund, Germany, in 1977 and we have a well established association with more than 200 ex-members on our mailing list but we continue to search for many more.

Many of the lads from the squadron came from Yorkshire; many others married Yorkshire lasses and it is our belief that many will have returned to Yorkshire when they retired from the Army.

In May this year we plan to hold our seventh annual reunion in Dortmund and our hope is to find as many of our old comrades as possible by then and would appreciate your help in reporting this.

Our association has a website at www.260sig-sqnsam.abelgratis.co.uk where former members of these units can reach us quickly., Alternatively they should write to: The Secretary, Mr. Geoff Scott, 2 Waverley Road, Elland, West Yorkshire, HX5 0NL

Archie Cairns

Association Webmaster

Solar energy

SIR, - The subject of solar and alternative energy has recently featured in your columns and I would wish to widen the scale to include more particularly solar energy and its availability in all the continents of the world.

Because of this worldwide feature it would suffice for the entire needs of the world, and the replacement of oil due to run out in about 30 years with considerable and I believe beneficial consequences of a political nature.

D. John W. Cowie

Mayfield,

Hag Farm Road,

Burley-in-Wharfedale.