Letters to the Editor

In the long term, very few people benefit from house-price inflation and we all suffer because the infra-structure of roads, doctors, schools, recreational space, sewers etc cannot cope with the activities of speculative builders.

Price inflation means that fewer of our young people can afford to live in the area in which they were brought up and consequently have to move away from family support.

The earlier price inflation was accelerated by "property consultants" exaggerating the effects of the electrification of rail links on travel times to London.

Having contributed to a housing boom and the consequent serious traffic congestion, the latest "Airedale hype" exaggerates the benefit on local commuting times of the Bingley by-pass, while the "Wharfedale hype" stresses "good communications", ignoring the fact that the A65 is now a huge car park for most of the day and that a complete new town will shortly be built on the Highroyds site, adding to the congestion.

I share your hope that planners will be able to resist the increasing "pressure on the remaining green fields for housing".

Alec Denton, Oxford Road, Guiseley.

SIR - In response to Mr Foster's letter of December 10 titled "Have we no say?", I am writing to set the record straight.

Bradford Vision is Bradford's Local Strategic Partnership, a body created as a result of a requirement by national Government.

As chairman of Bradford Vision, it is important that I write to let Mr Foster and other readers know that it is not a "faceless quango" but a partnership which involves all three main political group leaders, decision-makers from Primary Care Trusts, the police, the district's colleges, the University, the Chamber of Commerce, Bradford Breakthrough, the district's Housing Partnership, as well as the community.

It is one of the few partnerships which holds its board meetings in public and information of its work is published on its website at www.bradfordvision.com. The partnership is not only accountable through its membership to partner organisations like the Council but it is also accountable to the Government.

By having an effective local strategic partnership, the district draws down significant funding from central Government.

If your readers would like more details I suggest they contract Sharmila Gandhi, chief executive of Bradford Vision, who I know would be happy to help them.

Councillor Margaret Eaton, Chairman of Bradford Vision, Mercury House, Manchester Road, Bradford 5.

SIR - Re "Lasting legacy for our cityscape!" (T&A, December 27) and the decision by long-serving members of the Council's design services team to take early retirement. As your story says, these men were responsible for many of the city's "distinctive" landmark buildings dating from the 1960s.

One of the team expresses his understanding that after 20 or 30 years some of these buildings have outlasted their usefulness and need to be flattened. Perhaps he believes that this is a normal life span for a building and represents good value for the local taxpayer.

Of course it isn't and doesn't. Your story goes on to tell us that Bradford was one of the first councils to set up its own architecture department, and perhaps herein lies the problem. At least two buildings of the city's true architectural legacy (the Wool Exchange and Town Hall) were the result of an open competition. Shouldn't this be the way forward for future city centre developments?

Interesting also, according to your story, that despite it dating from 1901, the Council's architecture department apparently was responsible for St George's Hall. Indeed!

Geoff Kenny, Netherwood Chambers, Bradford 1

l EDITOR'S NOTE: The reference to St George's Hall should have made it clear that it was to its refurbishment, not its construction.

SIR - Re Neil Shaw's letter of December 28 saying that it's about time Bradfordians stopped bleating about how poor the Council and district is. He also says he's lived in different parts of the country, and this city is being consistently run down by a "significant minority" of people.

What a nonsensical letter this is.

I have lived in this city all my life, as have many of the correspondents to this page, and if we are a "significant minority" we easily outnumber the people like Mr Shaw. That's a majority!

Who better to make complaints than the people who live here, and what abject nonsense to suggest these people are "happy" to run down their home.

Has it occurred to Mr Shaw that much of the criticism is from people who can remember when Bradford was a far, far better place and have seen it deteriorate to its present state.

Today we have many decision-makers who have no roots in this city and know very little of its history. They cannot feel the pulse nor its heartbeat and totally disregard the views of the massive majority.

Gary Lorriman, Long Lane, Harden.

SIR - I feel I must agree with Mr Michael Breen in his letter of December 31. It would appear that finally everyone in England is now a second-class citizen, and ironically the first-class citizens are not even citizens of the country.

They are any and all people from any country in the world who wish to come and live in England. All they have to do is to show up, and to help finance these illegal aliens the second-class citizens of the UK may now have to work past 65 years of age.

It is no wonder that these people wish to come to live in a law-abiding country for in many other places this situation would be met with violence and vigilante solutions, but not the UK.

The law-abiding people will allow this to happen. The aliens will stay and in many cases try to turn the country into something that resembles the country they left.

Ken Hodgson, Longacre Drive, Vernon BC, Canada.

SIR - As a national mental health service provider, we are concerned that the Community Care (Delayed Discharges) Bill may lead to mental health in-patients being discharged earlier than they should be.

There is also a danger that local authorities will take discharged patients earlier than they should, without proper accommodation and services in place, in an attempt to save paying hospital charges.

Extra financial burdens on local councils are not going to help them create and commission the new mental health services that are needed to meet the Government's National Service Framework for Mental Health.

Furthermore, the charging proposal appears to go against recent, and welcome, Government moves to create better joint-funding arrangements between local authorities and health authorities, and to overcome problems where demarcations over money can currently cause difficulties for patients in getting the services they need.

We support the Bill's proposals for better communication between the NHS and local authorities over patients' discharging. It is important to ensure that all discharges are prepared for well in advance and proper and effective services immediately come into play at discharge.

However, this aspiration may be distorted by the financial pressures imposed under the new charging arrangements.

Simon Lawton-Smith, Head of Public Affairs, Maca - Mental After Care Association, High Holborn, London WC1V