Who wouldn't applaud the fact that a charity ball in Ilkley raised more than £10,000 for cancer charities on Saturday night? Unfortunately, the organisers of the same event at the Craiglands Hotel chose to end the evening with an extremely loud, prolonged professional firework display - which started at midnight.

It seems incredible that neither Coral Windows, the Bradford firm which hosted the ball, nor the Craiglands considered the inevitable, far-reaching impact this would have on the town.

Residents living more than a mile from the hotel were woken up by the noise - and we can only imagine the impact on those sleeping in the several nursing and residential homes based beside the Craiglands on Crossbeck Road.

The uproar which ensued was entirely predictable. Local people, already more than fed up with the apparently non-stop barrage of late-night explosions which ran from October through to Guy Fawkes' Night, were quick to bombard the hotel and Coral Windows with complaints.

Ilkley Parish Council, too, has been urged to introduce a by-law which limits the times fireworks can be let off - and which would give the police the authority to stop ill thought out fiascos like Saturday night happening again.

It is a pity Coral Windows' admirable fund-raising achievement has been overshadowed by the controversy - but perhaps the next time they want to end an event with a bang they will spare a thought for the local community.

THE LACK of local response to plans for a 'luxury village' at the former Middleton Hospital site is something of a surprise. The first planning applications for the hospital sparked strong feelings within Ilkley, but apart from six letters of objection, the greatest response to the latest 34-home plan has been from Ilkley Parish Council - which wants to see the plan rejected.

It may be, of course, the Ilkley people are simply happy with the plans, and accept that housing development of some sort is inevitable. Yet while the number of houses in the plan has been reduced the general concerns cannot have altogether gone away, such as those in 1999 from horse riders and wildlife enthusiasts.