SIR - In response to the letter by Mr R Johnson, Wharfedale Observer, March 14, we would like to put the record straight with regard to the impression he appears to have of the schools issue.

We realise that he will not have been aware that the legal proceedings started several months ago. To our frustration, it has been a long and cumbersome process, in particular, the main proceedings had to wait until the Schools Organisation Committee met on September 10, 2001.

As the stark reality of what will happen sinks in, the points people are making concern the wider effects that the reorganisation will have on Otley. They have asked, what will happen to the North Parade premises, which are listed.

Will the After School Club be forced to close? What will the other users of the site do after they are ejected in July this year? Why have the proposals been steamrollered through with scant regard to Government guidelines and little regard to grass roots debate from the ordinary people of the town?

More importantly, where will the school places be when new families move into the town, as is expected to happen in the next few years? Which of the surviving school sites could be expanded to cope with additional pupils?

A judicial review, if one is held, will no doubt investigate these points, which a prudent local council should have considered from the very beginning. It appears that Mr Johnson has already prejudged the outcome of any judicial review of the reorganisation.

We continue to be disturbed that so many of our elected representatives have shown such a closed mind on an issue of such profound importance for the whole of Otley. To hypothesis about the cost of scrapping the proposals at this stage is something that the LEA should have done a year ago, when in its first report it said of its proposals that "the evidence in favour of this approach is not clear cut".

Indeed Chris Edwards, the Chief Executive of Education Leeds (who took control of education from the LEA) is on record in the Press, on June 15, 2001, as admitting, 'the planned reorganisation of Otley primary schools should have been handled differently'.

The only possible way to get such proposals through in this situation was by the steamroller, as we witness in our town now. The letter by L Nuttgens, Wharfedale Observer March 14, eloquently confirmed many of the flaws in this whole process, and identified many of the worries parents and residents already have, even now.

The largest of the affected sites, All Saints Junior School, will in all certainty, quickly become just another derelict building in the town centre, and we will have to live with the dire consequences of this decision for generations to come.

PARENTS' ACTION GROUP

Otley All Saints Junior School,

Otley.

Defence misplaced

SIR, - As a countryside lover, the authentic Wharfedale farmer's voice of Stanley Flesher, is a compelling weekly read for me, and I am very relieved that he has been spared the trauma, which destruction of his milking herd, through foot and mouth, would have caused.

However, I do believe his nostalgic defence of foxhunting with horse and hound is misplaced.

As my own daily paper, The Guardian, has reported several agriculturally-orientated European countries, where all the thrill and spectacle of hunting is achieved, without terrorising a fleeing fox, by electing a trail leader of each pack, who lays a trail with scented bait which the hounds pursue - analogous with, I would have thought, with the wire-drawn bait in greyhound racing.

As a grassroot Old Labour member, I recall the emphatic rejection from a large group of fellow members, that deer hunting played a valuable role in protecting state-owned forests from the ravages of deer.

The humane solution, demanded by this meeting, was skilled deer stalking with guns.

A readers letter's vivid description of the childlike screams of a captured hare, that wonderful proclaimer of spring, made certain I would support banning hunting on foot with packs of beagles.

Surely a live fox must provide the perfect environmentally safe control for the swarming myxomatosis resistant rabbit populations, which incidentally are causing headaches for the gardeners in some of our hugely popular city parks.

Thus, I stand four square behind MP Harold Best if he is given the opportunity in Parliament to vote for a Bill banning hunting with dogs.

Mr G Wordsworth

38 Long Meadows,

Bramhope.

Political point

SIR, - I wish to reply to the headline in last week's Wharfedale Observer, 'Political upheaval leads to centre boost'.

In this report, you refer to myself as not being Conservative. I would like to point out that I have always supported the Conservative Party, but do not agree with party politics at town or parish councils.

I have over the years been subjected to taunts and jeers from a certain section of the town council and find that the present Socialists seem to think that it is good to try to score political points no matter what the truth is.

Throughout my town council election campaigns I have funded my own leaflets and fought on a total independent stance, in the same way as Coun Clive Fox and Coun Richard Harker stand on Bramhope Parish Council.

Having cleared up that issue, I hope that the people of Otley will realise the importance of the main content of the report. To borrow £300,000 for as yet unspecified projects, which we understand will be spent on the Civic Centre to return it back to its former glories of the turn of the last century, is beyond belief, especially when you take into account that there is at the present no lease on the building and after having spent this huge amount of money, we could be evicted.

I, like many other councillors, feel that this burden, which will cost almost half a million pounds to repay, is yet another example of blatant Socialist overspending as they have done on Leeds City Council for many years.

Coun Nigel Francis

6 Pearson's Buildings

Otley.

Loan concern

SIR, - I wonder if I am alone in my concern as to how the Otley Town Council is going to repay the reported £300,000 loan. I understand that the loan is in order to bring the Civic Centre into line with the disability laws. Surely this is the responsibility of Leeds City Council, as owners of the building, to carry out this work.

I wonder how many of the ratepayers of Otley know that they already pay approximately £70,000 a year to keep the doors of this building open. The building is not fully, used, there are nights when the centre is not open due to lack of bookings

.I am aware that the centre has to be brought into line with disability laws if it is to remain in use. I do question the method used, i.e. the raising of a loan by councillors who cannot always see their way to working together for the good of Otley and its people, councillors who will be out of office a long time before this loan is anywhere near repaid.

This surely is a matter that needs further explanation. What amount of interest will such a loan incur, how long will be the period of the loan and how much will it cost the council taxpayers of Otley?

Mr John A Parkin

1 Pearsons Buildings,

Otley.

Help Bloom bid

SIR, - The Britain in Bloom regional judges will be touring Otley on Thursday, April 11, between 2pm and 4pm. The route will extend to the four corners of the town, eastwards to The Summercross, westwards to Bradford Road, northwards to Newall Carr Road and The Gills and southwards to Birdcage Walk.

The judges will meet different people who have participated with Otley in Bloom on the way. having explored the town by minibus, the judges will, weather permitting, take a leisurely stroll through the town centre and return to the Civic Centre by 4pm.

The annual spring clean is planned for Sunday, April 7. We hope that those people who have volunteered in the past will be able to give up a couple of hours and help make the town look its best. More volunteers are needed. As they say, more hands make light work.

We meet at The Buttercross at 10am and finish by lunchtime. There is much that can be done between now and then by businesses and residents alike. Ensuring that premises are clean and well maintained certainly helps, as so does the removal of weeds and litter. These things unfortunately mean we lose hard earned points.

Finally, the Otley in Bloom group thanks all its supporters. We know only too well that many residents, businesses and visitors alike go out of their way to keep Otley a cleaner and more attractive place. The work of these often anonymous people is highly valued and appreciated. Thankyou.

Otley is set in a beautiful location and it has lots of natural attributes, but we should not take it for granted. Hope to see you on Sunday, April 7.

Sylvia Reid

Secretary,

Otley in Bloom,

8A Ghyll Beck Drive,

Otley.

Wrong road name

SIR, - I have been pursuing the matter of the mis-use of the name 'Pool Road' for 'Otley Road', Pool-in-Wharfedale, with the Post Office for more than 18 months.

Having had no response at Otley Post Office, I referred the matter to the head office in Leeds. As a result, a letter was received from customer services in Newcastle upon Tyne which said that the post office had no control over street naming and suggested that I should contact the local authority concerned. Having written to Leeds City Council's street naming department, I have received a letter from the council confirming the correct name for Otley Road and that there has been no change.

I would like all companies and residents on Otley Road to know their official address. Having been born, resided and spent all my working life on Otley Road, it has pained me to see the wrong use of this address.

To clarify, the title Otley Road applies as far as the parish boundary at Knotford Nook when it changes to Pool Road, Otley.

David H Whiteley

Hampden House,

120 Duchy Road,

Harrogate.