Letters to the Editor

While I heartily agree with them, I wonder why no-one has mentioned the worst (in my opinion) and most unhealthy mess of all - SPITTING.

Walk past any of the upper schools in Bradford just before and after the pupils have either entered or left school and you will have your work cut out to avoid stepping on the blobs of spit/mucus littering the pavements.

I was in a bus shelter recently with two teenage boys from a local school, and they were repeatedly hawking and spitting the entire time they were there.

Surely in these times when tuberculosis is once again rife, something should be done about this filthy and disgusting habit. It is a well-known fact that TB is most commonly spread by spitting. An on-the-spot fine should be introduced and strongly enforced.

Mrs P M Miller, Leaventhorpe Avenue, Fairweather Green, Bradford.

SIR - I read with dismay and enormous irritation your articles detailing the reaction of Bradford Council planning officers and councillors to the conversion of a small barn in Bingley to living accommodation.

An "independent inspector" ruled the conversion "alien" to the character of an agricultural building and "harmful to the surrounding green belt".

The property is built from local stone and is in close proximity to the owner's existing dwelling. The roof may not be constructed from an ideal material but, as the owner points out, it is identical to roofing on a new estate nearby.

Presumably the Council ratified the plans for this estate. If the Planning Department had been so fastidious in upholding green belt protection policies in recent times, the people of Bingley and Keighley would not now be facing the large-scale (up to 400 houses), characterless, fake stone developments which are springing up all over the local green belt.

One wonders whether the independent inspector's opinion was sought when planning permission was granted for these developments - all of which are alien and damaging to the green belt.

Good luck to the aforementioned Bingley resident should he choose to pursue his planning appeal.

D C Wilding, Highfield Villas, Street Lane, East Morton.

SIR - I am writing in support of the Bingley man, Tony Kemp, who is fighting the Council officials who want to demolish his renovated farm building.

It looks perfectly acceptable to me - built in local stone which is in keeping with its surroundings and better than the rundown ruin it was previously.

I don't know how these planning officers have the gall to say they are "protecting" the green belt when they have allowed a 400-house estate to be built off Swine Lane in Riddlesden. They should get their priorities right.

A Fletcher, Malsis Road, Keighley.

SIR - In response to Phillip Jackson's unsubstantiated litany of woe (Letters, April 4), I will highlight just a few of the Labour Government's achievements.

Labour has proved beyond doubt that it is the only party capable of managing the economy. The facts speak for themselves: a million more people employed, unemployment down by half a million, the lowest inflation and interest rates in 30 years.

Successful economic management has allowed Labour to address the legacy of 18 years of Conservative rule that left public services and infrastructure in disarray.

The NHS is now seeing the biggest growth in expenditure ever, police recruitment is rising while crime falls, class sizes have been reduced, over 1.2 million children have removed from poverty, 1.5 million workers have benefited from the minimum wage.

In the Bradford District, the Government has announced investment totalling over £100 million since January 2001.

Does Mr Jackson seriously believe that the Tories' £16 billion spending cuts will improve services and quality of life?

Coun Barry Thorne, City Hall, Bradford.

SIR - The Conservatives keep telling us that the present government is "failing" the NHS, yet I can recall patients dying in the back of ambulances while the NHS was "safe" in the hands of the then Conservative government.

It is also brought to my attention by the Conservative opposition that Mr Blair and Co do not care for the livelihoods of our farmers. We all know how the Conservatives looked after the livelihoods of people in the mining communities by baton charges and fracturing the odd skull.

Mr Hague and others tell us that Mr Blair is not good for the nation because he is a "ditherer". Can anyone recall how the Conservatives "dithered" about whether it would be right for the nation to withdraw from the ERM on "Black Wednesday"?

Do the Conservative Party want the electorate to believe that they are the party who occupy the moral ground, given their track record?

M A Booth, Moorcroft Drive, Bradford.

SIR - Research into my paternal family tree has revealed that my great-great-grandparents, John and Ann Ince, moved to Bradford from Wigan sometime after their marriage in 1821.

Their two sons Christopher and Henry were born in Bradford in 1831 and 1834 respectively.

The 1881 census shows Christopher and his wife Mary Ann living at 18 Shirley Street, Saltaire, with nine of their children: Ann, John, Mary, Emily, Henry, Rose, Elizabeth, Alice, and Ada.

The ten-year-old Henry, who later moved to Hull, was my grandfather.

If anyone has any further information on the family history, will they please contact me.

Sue Adeyemo (nee Ince), 114 Kinross Crescent, Cosham, Portsmouth, Hants PO6 2NS

SIR - I was drawn to your article on the theft of paving stones from a house in Eccleshill. This type of crime seems quite common and quite a racket.

Last year, people in the Wyke area, including my mother-in-law, had paving stones stolen. She tells me that another elderly lady saw the thieves in the act and called the police. They came - six hours later.

Stuart Baker, Place St Michel, Etalle-Chantemelle, Belgium.

SIR - I see that two gentleman were trying to ridicule the T&A (April 4) regarding asylum seekers moving into the Heaton area of Bradford.

I have many friends who live in Heaton, both Asian and non-Asian. I asked around these people and not one of them agrees with the house being used for asylum seekers. Some of these people were very indignant about it.

In my opinion if this house is used for the purpose intended, it will upset many people which will make it very awkward for the proposed tenants.

Derek Wright, Westbury Street, Bradford 4.