School plan will cause traffic chaos

I am aware that this school was originally built to serve the Cambridge estate, but now very few families from this area actually use it. The Leeds proposal to increase the population of the school by some 150 plus children, most of whom do not live on the estate, is going to cause absolute chaos.

A further 100 or so cars entering or leaving the estate twice daily is going to be more than the single access road can cope with. Traffic congestion is already a nightmare scenario, and to add to this, without the provision of another separate access road, is utter lunacy.

Would it not make more sense to move those few children presently at Lisker Drive school to another school, rather than to move hundreds to a part of the town which is not near where they live, and which clearly cannot cope with the extra congestion.

Jane Shaw

27 South Parade

Otley.

'No' to turbines

SIR, - Craven District Council is soon to determine whether to renew planning consent for four wind turbines at Chelker Reservoir. The beautiful landscape between Draughton and Addingham is not the place for industrial structures 100ft high.

We have a duty to future generations to preserve the little fine countryside we have left. Landscape is a non-renewable resource. We should never degrade it without powerful incentives to do so.

The four turbines at Chelker produce between them, on average, enough electricity to boil 100 electric kettles.

Wind can never replace nuclear or any other power stations. Wind 'farms' always have to be shadowed by other generators ready to cut in at those times when there is no wind - otherwise there would be electricity cuts.

There are 853 wind turbines generating electricity in the UK and together they produce - unpredictably and unreliably - fewer than 800 million units of electricity a year, which is one quarter of once per cent of our demand. Since demand has recently grown by 2.4 per cent a year, we would have to build thousands of turbines every year just to match increased consumption.

Probably, in the future, the vast bulk of our supply will some from modern gas-fired power stations which are very clean and have a large, reliable output. One of these power stations saves about 11 million tonnes of CO2 a year, while it has taken all our wind turbines ten years to save a million tonnes!

Since the industrial revolution, wind has been a quaint throwback, and wind turbines will never produce our energy needs any more than sailing clippers will replace bulk tankers. We have to stop being distracted by the medieval technology and address the real problem - profligate energy use.

By 2010 we could have reduced our consumption of energy by a third, or we can squander the resources it would need to achieve that by covering our best landscapes with turbines in order to generate a tiny percentage of an ever-growing demand for electricity.

So, let us hope that Craven's planning committee will not be bamboozled by green political correctness into extending the life of these turbines. There is now an opportunity to atone for an environmental crime committed ten years ago.

ROBER WOODWARD

Vice-chairman,

Country Guardian, Aubrey House,

Roverside,

Twickenham,

Middlesex TW1 3DS.

Rations, passions

SIR, - Wanted for new ITV series: Fond and funny memories of our changing lifestyle in the 1950s and 60s. How the old world of rationing and freezing cold houses was revolutionised by the 'never-had-it-so-good' years and modern homes.

Do you remember the 1950s world of new labour-saving household appliances, telephone party lines, the arrival of television, home deliveries, the New Look, the Dansette, the games of the innocent fifties child, housewives as domestic goddesses, the arrival of the teenager, Teddy boys, the coin-op and the joy in getting the first family car like the Ford Anglia?

And what about the sixties supermarket and convenience foods, the working mother, new tower blocks and motorways, the Mini car and Miniskirt, mods and rockers, the bob, long hair and rebellious sixties youth?

If you went through it all and can remember the best and worst aspects of living in the 50s and 60s, please write to the following address.

Nick Maddocks

Testimony Films,

12 Great George St,

Bristol, BS1 5RS,

mail@testimonyfilms.force9.co.uk.

School worry

SIR, - We read with some surprise of the proposal by Leeds City Council to expand Westgate Infant School to a full primary school.

As parents whose children recently went to Westgate, we cannot think how the school has the space to be expanded and still have enough play area. The area is also already congested with traffic, especially at the beginning and end of the school day.

Expansion of the school will make this far worse. There must be a better alternative than this.

Mrs E Pollard

Mrs D Whitley

11 Milner Bank

Otley.

Organic solution

SIR, - I know nothing about the glorious olden days of John Bull and English beef.

But I know that after decades of massively subsidised scientifically and Government-controlled factory farming we live with:

BSE,

Salmonella,

Foot and Mouth,

E Coli,

Spread of antibiotic resistance,

Destruction of hedges, woodland, bird-life, other wild life

Pollution of water courses,

Diseases in farmed salmon,

Culling of badgers,

Toxic blooms,

Distress and cruelty to animals.

I've not included problems from SM - but watch this space!

Is it time perhaps to abandon industrial farming for an organic vegetarian/vegan diet - as practised by the non-polluting members of this planet.

Mr R K Collard

Flat 3,

11 Riddings Road,

Ilkley,

LS29 9LU

Bike ride chance

SIR, - The Thames Bridges Bike Ride is one of the few events in the calendar which allow the participants to tour London, exercise and raise money for charity all in the same day.

And there are still a few places left to take part in this year's exciting event. The sixth annual Thames Bridges Bike Ride, which raises vital funds for The Stroke Association, will be held on Sunday, May 13. Last year more than 1,600 cyclists took part and between them raised more than £90,000 for the charity.

This year we hope to top the 2,000 mark for riders enrolled to take part in the ride, which crosses 16 of the capital's river bridges.

The Stroke Association fights to reduce death and disability from stroke, which is the country's most common cause of death after cancer and heart disease and the single biggest cause of serious disability.

The ride raises vital funds to continue the charity's work raising awareness, providing support and financing research.

The Thames Bridge Bike Ride, which starts at Tower Bridge and ends opposite Hampton Court, is open to cyclists of all ages and abilities. Anyone who wishes to take part in the ride should call the 24-hour hotline on 020 7566 0311, e-mail (nationalevents@stroke.org.uk) or download the enrolment form at (www.stroke.org.uk).

So please get on your bike to help us make this year's Thames Bridges Bike Ride the most successful ever.

Sue Knight

The Stroke Association,

London,

EC1Y 8JJ.

Postcards plea

SIR, - I have been collecting picture postcards for the past ten months, particularly those with maps and lighthouses on but also general view cards.

I do not have any from your area and I am hoping that some kind reader will send me one, for which I shall be most grateful.

Brian James

PO Box 1492,

Bournemouth,

Dorset,

BH7 6YB.

Golf query

SIR, - There is a notice at the entrance to Otley Golf Club announcing that the footpath is closed on pain of a large fine, because of Foot and Mouth Disease.

However on Sunday the car park was glittering with cars, and people were playing golf. I'm sure they have a legal right to walk there, or they wouldn't be doing it, but is it ethical?

Kay Newman

Bradford Road,

Otley.

Be responsible

SIR, - Due to the foot and mouth outbreak, dog walkers are having to keep to the roads. I would urge dog owners to be responsible like myself and use a doggy bag. These are available at Otley Civic Centre - free of charge - and keep the paths and roads clean.

Mrs C Bradley

Weston Drive

Otley.

Ban not logical

SIR, - Panorama Wood in Ilkley is entirely surrounded by houses and gardens. Three deer pass through the wood each day, spending no more than two hours out of each 24 hours a day there. The other 22 hours they spend foraging in the adjacent gardens.

To save these deer from the possibility of contracting foot and mouth disease I may no longer go into the wood.

Yet these self-same deer can (and do) come into my garden. Meanwhile I may drive as often as I like along the roads at the top and the bottom of the wood.

I have struggled, but failed to understand the logic that underlies the closure of the wood. Can any of your readers help?

Owen Wells

23 Eaton Road,

Ilkley.