Caravan concerns (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Caravan concerns

8:55am Friday 10th February 2012 in Readers' letters By Telegraph & Argus

SIR – I would like to praise the good work of Crook Farm resident Mr Ernest Steel and the backing of campaigners.

I have lived in Baildon for more than 70 years and remember, when living at Belmont Avenue, walking through Crook Farm in the mid-1940s and there were mobile homes on the site then. This isn’t Chalk Farm in Essex.

The shut-down since I have been here has gone from seven to four weeks in a short time and that was before paying council tax. You should be able to live in your own home permanently.

The council tax charge first came to light in August 2010, yet it was March/April before any Council officials ventured on site to enquire who lived where and in what.

The rumoured rebate for the month shut down was £90. If Bradford Council can find me a place to stay for a month at £90 per month B/B I would be amazed.

I am not against the council tax, providing we have 12 months residence and the banding should be A- because thr cabins and mobile homes are not ‘bricks and mortar’, the lifespan of these residences comes nowhere near to that of a house or cottage, and they have to be replaced.

And, finally, I think we should be allowed to move back into own homes immediately until this matter is resolved.

In the winter, the park can be seen from Glen Road, but it is surrounded by at least 300 mature trees and from spring onwards, as is anywhere in the countryside, completely obscured from site and does not ‘blight’, as planners have said, any landscape – I have photos to prove it.

J Rhodes, Glen Road, Baildon