SIR – So now we read that the plans for the proposed Westfield development (T&A, October 12) are set for approval by the Council.

We also read that Planning Officers recommend approval despite objections from supporters of a cross-rail link, commenting that there is “currently no committed Council scheme to promote or deliver this transport facility”.

Is it any wonder that our city is viewed as, and will remain as, a backwater when such negative attitudes persist within the Council at both staff and elected levels?

Of course, in the current economic climate, there is no possibility of such a link in the short-term, but the proposed development would effectively stop it for maybe one hundred years, which simply cannot be right.

If it is indeed passed as proposed, then well done to all those in power, confirming to us all that we have a second-rate city run by personnel who have no proper foresight whatever. Sadly, that evidence is all around us in our city every day.

Bob Watson, Springfield Road, Baildon