Letters to the Editor

SIR - Having read Cathy MacKay's letter (T&A, March 30) I felt compelled to give my observations of the litter problem in the Leeds Road area.

Bradford's Big Sweep campaign is to be commended but the efforts of these hard-working litter-pickers will amount to little if the residents within targeted communities continue to drop litter.

I drive up Leeds Road every day to work and I have noticed there are litter bins conveniently placed every 50-100 yards on each side of the road.

However, despite a proliferation of opportunities to dispose of litter correctly, the streets are always strewn with rubbish and I pass a road sweeper or a pavement sweeper on this road every single day.

What is the point in spending money to provide litter bins if further money has to be wasted on daily mechanical cleaning?

A so-called "Gateway to the City", this stretch of road has already had huge amounts of money spent on it to replace pavements with expensive block paving.

How much more money can be thrown into this area in a bid to improve its appearance when the residents themselves don't appears to care what it looks like?

C Smith, Oakleigh Terrace, Clayton

Playing with words

SIR - Your centre-page headline (T&A, March 30) covering Bradford schools' results, "Good.....but could still be better" bore no relation whatsoever to the sad truth of the content in the ensuing report.

The opening paragraph went on to announce that: "Bradford remains in the worst 20 education authorities in the country....", followed by the next paragraph with: "The district has dropped three places and is now ranked 17 from the bottom in national league tables.....".

By what stretch of linguistic spin can this utterly depressing record be related to the headline word "Good"?

Surely it would be better for all concerned to emphasise the truth in all your reporting, then everyone would know where they stand and the challenges they face.

You are helping no-one by blowing such an inaccurate trumpet in the headline, while burying the truth in the smaller print.

Maybe you should reprint the story, but this time with the more truthful headline: "Abysmal...could hardly be worse".

Graham Hoyle, Kirkbourne Grove, Baildon

l EDITOR'S NOTE: I agree that by national standards the results are very poor. Anyone who reads the T&A on a regular basis will know that we frequently take Education Bradford and the Council to task for the very slow rate of progress in improving the district's performance. Sometimes, however, a little encouragement for even the slightest sliver of improvement can go a long way and we were simply trying to reflect the district's best-ever performance in tests for 14-year-olds.

No closure here

SIR - In the midst of the controversy surrounding the DfES announcement of '100 academies' existing or in the pipeline, specific attention has concentrated on Rhodesway School.

The school has been in special measures since 2002. Strong efforts have been made to win the support of staff, students and community in bringing about improvement and the latest HMI report, in February 2006, judged the school to be making either good or satisfactory progress on all five key issues needing improvement.

However, continuing speculation of a worst-case scenario potentially has a very unsettling effect at local level. For this reason, it was seen as vital to reassure pupils and parents of important points to bear in mind:

Whether or not the school becomes an academy, there will be a need for a large secondary school on the current site in the long term. There is no intention to close Rhodesway. If the school does become an academy, this will not happen earlier than 2008. It would remain on the current site with all the students who were then attending the school and would continue to provide education for local children.

Nigel Jepson, Executive Head teacher, and Rachel Kidd, Acting Head teacher, Rhodesway.

Engine query

SIR - Keighley & District Local History Society recently received an e-mail enquiry and I wondered if any of your readers could help solve the mystery.

It came from a Keith Lodge who said: "I am trying to find some information about an engine which I now own. It is a vintage National DA-2 2-Cylinder Diesel Engine, serial number 63567.

"My boat builder purchased it from a fun fair and said it had originally come from Keighley and Worth Valley Railway works where it was used as a standby generator set.

"I have been in touch with the railway but nobody has any recollection of it."

If anyone can recall such an engine being used as a standby generator in the Keighley area they can contact me on 01535 669914.

Barbara Klempka, Secretary, Keighley & District Local History Society, Box Tree Grove, Long Lee, Keighley.

Look at report

SIR - An excellent letter by Philip Coote (T&A, March 9) re the cost of city centre redevelopment. This coincides with the eloquent report by Mr Hughes, chief town planner at City Hall, on March 7.

He outlined the Unitary Development Plan for Bradford for the approval of Bradford Council. This comprehensive report is to guide councillors on what should be done regarding the many aspects of the city centre.

We would emphasise page 23 of the same report - (3.3) Odeon Cinema Building. This building - together with the Alhambra Theatre, the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television and the Central Library - forms an impressive crescent of buildings along Prince's Way, with the domes of the Odeon and the Alhambra complementing each other. During the winter of 2000/2001 it was unused. Ideally it should be refurbished and reused for leisure purposes. The twin towers and facade of the Odeon building alongside Prince's Way should be retained and restored in any redevelopment proposals.

(3.4) Quebec Street - Vacant land adjoining and to the rear of the Odeon cinema should be used for leisure purposes, ideally in association with the reuse/redevelopment of that building.

Norman E Littlewood, chairman BORG, Huddersfield Road, Wyke.

Too much stress!

SIR - Bradford Primary Care Trust is bringing in a smoking ban at all their mental health resource centres on May 1, a good year before it is compulsory.

At the centre I attend, Walker House, we have a smoke room with ventilation which at present is used by 80 per cent of the members (a lot of the mentally ill find smoking medicinal).

We are not binge drinking, injecting heroin or creating a nuisance for our neighbours, all problems which this Government has failed to address.

We will, however, be stressed out by this legislation and if there any stress-related incidents in the future you can thank Tony Blair and those who seem intent on controlling every aspect of our lives.

Graham Binns, St George's Place, Little Horton, Bradford.

Councillors' duty

SIR - What could you have done with £33? Well if you are a Bradford Council ratepayer that is what it is suggested has been the cost to each ratepayer for the mis-handling of the 20-year deal to run the district's facilities.

The leader of the Council, Councillor Margaret Eaton, and Councillor Simon Cooke claim it is no fault of theirs, but who decided the project should be carried out?

Who should have been keeping a watch on such a huge contract?

They are quick enough to get their photographs in the Telegraph & Argus to associate themselves with often trivial matters but they don't want to be associated with what has been described as the biggest contract in the history of Bradford Council.

Senior Council officers are being blamed for not having kept them fully informed of the progress of the scheme. But shouldn't the Councillors - our representatives - have demanded such information?

Peter A Rushforth, Sutton Drive, Cullingworth