SIR – Further to my colleagues’ letters in reply to that of R Halliday (Letters, January 14) on the state of Windhill’s empty Carnegie Library. Local Councillors Greenwood and Watmough have indeed tried to get the building and environs tidied up. I myself have complained to Council officers about rubbish accumulating around the building, and they have had some success in getting action for a limited period.

We have been able to get the Council to act directly and secure long-empty properties, such as when someone with health issues has gone into care with no family or friends able to secure their homes, but this case illustrates the difficulty in getting landowners (absent and otherwise) to look after their property in the interests of the wider community.

Of course, when the library owners do eventually get around to positive action, (as they almost certainly will for financial reasons), we councillors can claim the credit for persuading them to do so.

Coun John Hall, (Lib-Dem, Windhill & Wrose) Pennithorne Avenue, Shipley