SIR – As soon as I see the word “consultation” I reach for my pen. Keighley’s business community is to be “consulted” about the introduction of on-street parking fees, a move which is expected to bring in a paltry profit of £150,000 per year, after initial costs are paid off (by which time there will be no point in parking in Keighley anyway).

Bradford Council has a box to tick before it can inflict mayhem on our town. The box is labelled “consultation”. It is a sheer waste of time and money to “consult” local businesses about this pernicious plan, as it would take a ship of fools not to know what the answer from our worthy burghers will be.

Meanwhile, Bradford is obviously aware that by restricting the number of “stakeholders” they are more likely to get the answer they want, and isn’t that the whole point of “consultation”?

Furthermore, such “consultation” is to be overseen by a group with a massive interest in dragging hapless customers to the ruined centre of Bradford.

Whoever else might have an opinion about a sudden hike in their weekly budgets? Could it be, perhaps, the people who are going to pay for this highway robbery, the customers and taxpayers of Keighley? Are we going to get our say?

George Speller, Hill Top Road, Keighley