It is hardly surprising that eyebrows have been raised at news of the overnight stay at an Ilkley hotel by 18 members of the shadow board preparing the bid for funding for Little Horton. There can hardly be a bigger contrast than between the deprived streets of this Bradford inner-city area and the luxury Craiglands Hotel where a single-room deal of £65 for the night was arranged for the group.

Granted, it is important that the bid should be discussed in an environment in which it can be properly considered and talked through. Also, many of the members of the board are volunteers, doing the work in their own time.

But given the nature of the district they were discussing - one of the most deprived in Bradford, where £65 has to be made to go a long way - it seems rather insensitive to have picked such a venue and to have incurred the cost of overnight rooms when many members live within easy travelling distance.

There must be more modest hotels with conference facilities which would have served the purpose just as well. And there must be other suitable conference venues - not least City Hall - where the members could have met for a full day, or gone home at night and met again the next morning.

Admittedly the money came out of £200,000 allocated by the Government for preparing the bid. But if the board are frugal with that allocation, perhaps they might be able to hand some over to help to revive Little Horton when the bid succeeds - as we sincerely hope it does.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.