Letters to the Editor

SIR, - Please allow me to respond to the letter from Coun Jim Spencer, which you headed 'Chairman explains saga of Civic Centre discussions' -- which in itself is very misleading!

Jim is clearly suffering -- as I suspect we all do from time to time -- from a selective memory, and some of his assertions are, to put it charitably, confused.

Your readers will I'm sure be fed up with town councillors trawling back over ancient history, and the clear indication that I have is that residents and users of the Civic Centre want the debate to move on, and for us to get down to a proper resolution. I am equally clear that the vast majority of residents want the current building upgraded.

Jim correctly states that the lease has now run out on the building and castigates Leeds City Council for not investing in the building over the years.

I would point out that the Town Council of the early eighties -- of which Jim was a prominent member -- agreed the terms of the lease, which broadly speaking meant that the City Council retained responsibilities for the exterior of the building and Otley Town Council the interior.

I think that it is fair to say that over the years both councils have failed to discharge their duty to our Civic Centre.

What is very clear is that a stand-off between both councils is not helpful to either, and means that the users of the Civic Centre continue to use a sub-standard building.

With that in mind, the Labour Group, when we ran the council (as a minority group) brought proposals forward which Jim has clearly tried to misrepresent.

Our proposals, given that the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was about to come into force, concentrated on the access issues of the building and the restoration of the main hall. This would, in effect, have been phase one.

We discussed, and got agreement from Leeds City Council that they would upgrade the exterior of the building -- addressing issues with the roof etc, and were also in discussion with them regarding the City Council accepting the cost of the rewiring (even though under the terms of the lease agreed by Coun Spencer's council they had no obligation to do).

The cost of the loan that we proposed was for a maximum of £330,000 -- not £0.5m.

We were defeated by the Lib Dem-Tory coalition on the Town Council, and are now not a lot further on, apart from the fact that they passed a resolution declaring their intention to vacate the building and provide a brand new facility elsewhere in the town.

We now have a very comprehensive report from an independent, reputable architect appointed by Leeds City Council which has given us an indication of the costs of various options.

The report concludes that, by far the most cost-effective way of providing this facility is to upgrade the existing building. Jim is clearly deluding himself if he thinks that the other options are cheaper.

Jim correctly identifies that funding, of whatever option, remains the issue. I concur fully with our new MP -- who at the time was still a member of the ruling Tory/Lib Dem alliance on Leeds City Council, when he stated that Leeds City Council should now pay the full costs.

Like our new MP, I too agree that the best option is for us to remain in the current building, which has served the town for over 100 years, and which the architect has clearly demonstrated can be brought up to modern standards to serve considerably more generations of Otley residents.

Coun John Eveleigh

(Labour, Ashfield Ward),

Leader of the Labour

Group of town councillors.

Scruffy Otley

SIR, - I am surprised at the lack of debate in your columns about the increasingly derelict appearance of parts of Otley, and the impression the town gives to tourists.

Anyone arriving from the Leeds direction is confronted by a large heap of rubble which should by now have been a Sainsbury's store.

Security around the site seems non-existent -- the fencing around it has been broken down for weeks.

Head for the river and the scene is dominated by the derelict auction mart. Add to this the continuing poor state of repair of many of Otley's roads and the town is not exactly a jewel in the crown of Yorkshire's tourist destinations.

Yet the town's leaders seem to be doing little to get things moving. Where is the dynamic leadership which is prepared to bring together the owners of these sites and the City Council, and pull together an action plan to get progress?

Perhaps the Wharfedale Observer could take a lead by establishing the state of progress on these issues and calling those responsible to account.

David Wilson

29 Throstle Nest Close,

Otley.

Sainsbury's continues to stress that it is fully committed to its proposed Otley store and that 'complicated' land ownership issues alone prevents it from starting to build. The owner of the Bridge End auction mart site has applied to demolish the redundant and much vandalised buildings in an attempt to make the land more attractive to potential users. Editor

Great support

SIR, - Through your newspaper, and on behalf of my wife, Margaret, as well as myself, I would like to pass on our thanks and appreciation to the many well wishers and supporters during our term as Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Leeds.

It was the most wonderful and humbling experience of our lives. We made many new acquaintances and friends during our 'Magical Mystery Tour'. We were welcomed wherever we went and we in turn enjoyed every second of it.

Being the 'First Citizens' of this fantastic city of ours, we were able to promote all people, businesses and organisations throughout the country and even further afield in two of our partner cities.

Our thanks go out to everybody for making this last year so memorable. And our best wishes go out to Coun William Schofield and Mrs Pat Hyde, the current Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress.

Coun Chris Townsley

Horsforth.

Carnival thanks

SIR, - I would like to publicly thank the organisers of Yeadon Carnival for delivering a successful and enjoyable event, especially given the short timescale they had to work with. Despite an uninspiring weather forecast, the sun shone brilliantly and I look forward to next year's Carnival.

It is a very important community event and I hope an alternative venue can be found if the temporary health centre is in situ.

I wonder whether it could be held at the Tarn, which will hopefully be subject to many improvements before then.

Coun Ryk Downes

Liberal Democrat,

Otley and Yeadon Ward

Support Scouts

I read with astonishment the article in last week's Wharfedale and Airedale Observer about the noise complaint received by a Scout Group in Yeadon. I am familiar with the members of that group and I am amazed that someone could be so small-minded to complain about these boys.

This group has over 100 members in Beavers, Cub and Scouts. They meet for 52 weeks in every year. The leaders are a hard-working, dedicated band who organise activities for all their members.

They also give up their holidays to take the boys away camping periods of time from a weekend up to a week. These people receive no payment for this and they receive no grants from any outside source. They have raised every pound they spend which includes the running costs of their headquarters. This takes a huge amount of time and is not just confined to the section meeting for two hours a week.

Can you imagine how these people must feel to learn that despite their best efforts someone has complained because they cannot watch television on summer evenings with their window open? These young people are given a whole range of activities some of which are physical activities which take place either on the grassed area or inside their scout building, and some of which are quiet activities which take place in their garden or inside their scout building. After all there are not many evenings when it is fit and light enough to play outside.

We hear many stories in the columns of your newspaper of the way young people are behaving in totally inappropriate ways yet here is a group who are learning skill that will serve them in their lives. They learn to give service to other people as the older boys help the young ones. They raise money for other less fortunate groups of people. Most of all they have FUN. This was Baden-Powell's motivation for founding the Scouts. Perhaps the people who complained should remember the kind of things people did for them when they were young.

Margaret Varley

12 Queens Place, Otley,

Crash research

SIR, - I'm trying to find out details of a fatal aircraft accident during the fifties in which Ted Christian died. I'm not sure whether the crash happened in Guiseley or Yeadon . If anyone has any information I would be happy to receive it.

My e-mail address is:

roy.chadwick@wanadoo.fr

Roy Chadwick

Le bourg,

Soudat 24360,

France.

Memories please

SIR, - As a volunteer at Otley Museum, I am compiling a written archive of memories of growing up in Otley in the 1950s and 1960s. If anyone would be willing to share their experiences of those decades with others, I would be pleased to receive contributions to include in the archive.

Linda Waite

Volunteer researcher

Otley Museum

Otley Civic Centre

Cross Green

Otley.

Spain's a cut above

SIR I arrived home from our house in NE Spain (The Emporda region of Catalunya) on Thursday to be greeted by your edition of June 23. Two matters in particular caught my eye. Page three talked about the failure of Leeds City Council to cut the grass verges. That morning, as we left our village for Girona airport -- shame that there are no direct flights from Yeadon to Girona, a much more friendly airport than Barcelona -- we passed a tractor and trailer, one of the many we had seen the previous two weeks, cutting the verges and 'hoovering up' the cut grass.

The first thing I noticed as we drove back into Bramhope was overgrown verges. Need I say anything more other than the state of the roads in Emoporda is infinitely superior to that of the roads in North West Leeds. Page eight contained the penultimate contribution from your Curmudgeon. Being one myself I have long appreciated his comments about the 'politically correct' who have done so much to ruin life in this country. May he enjoy his stay in Western Australia. Perhaps we might even have the odd guest column from him.

John Mordy

Holland House

Church Hill

Bramhope