Playground responsibility

should fall on city council

SIR, - May I add a few comments in response to last weeks report on the campaign for a playground on Caxton Road (Town leaders give £2,500 boost to play area bid).

Firstly, can I thank Coun Graham Kirkland for his support for the project. He is absolutely right in saying that local children would benefit as the nearest play park is at least half a mile away.

He goes on to say that the project is a very ambitious one and he worries whether all the money is in place since Leeds City Council not only don't provide the equipment nor help with its installation, they also want to be paid for maintaining it if the local group do get one built.

Is this reasonable? I feel I should point out that, this is not a new playground but a replacement for the one which the city council built but failed to maintain; to the point where the equipment and the concrete surfaces on which it was set were too dangerous for children to use safely.

If the project is an ambitious, one as Graham says, then I can't think of a group I'd rather be ambitious about than the many toddlers to 11-year-olds who would benefit.

When local residents ask you as a councillor for your help and support you have to make a decision based on the merits of the case and say yes or no.

You know for sure that a project like this will be difficult, you can't be certain you will overcome all the obstacles on the way but, for me, you give it your absolute best shot rather than have endless discussions about whether you should or you shouldn't, whether the money will be there or not etc. etc.

The city council's consultation document on parks and play area (Towards a Parks and Green Space Strategy) speaks of listening to what children want by way of play facilities, working with local communities, encouraging them to feel that a space genuinely belongs to them and developing partnering opportunities with them.

Is it too much to ask that if we get a playground built, that the city council then take responsibility for maintaining it as they should have done with the old one?

Finally, Coun Nigel Francis says that he's worried that if Caxton Road gets a replacement playground, it might lead to existing play areas being neglected. Nigel wasn't at the recent council meeting so would not have heard the debate but his argument surprises me, particularly given his charitable work for children.

He seems to be saying that even if there is a good case for a playground it should be denied on the off chance that it might affect others who already have a playground. I don't believe you mean that Nigel, there have to be alternative ways of resolving this.

Coun Kevin Cooney

18 Sunnydale Ridge,

Otley.

Development

SIR, - I have up to now studiously avoided contributing to the protracted correspondence on Silver Cross, but feel that I have to say something about Mr K J Grogan's letter 'treating public as stupid'.

Everything he says about the effects of development in general and of this proposal in particular on our ward is correct, and I hope that he has written to the Chief Planning Officer expressing those views.

Writing to the Wharfedale Observer gets things off your chest but does nothing to register complaint where it can have the most effect. Massive local opposition is one of the most valuable tools in fighting a proposed development, and gives local councillors support in trying to minimise its effects.

What has to be realised is that this site is going to be built on at some time by someone, and what we are trying to do is to ensure that whatever development takes place creates the fewest problems and has the least effect on the people who have to live with it, that we can achieve.

The popular vote at our public meeting, for houses, not a mixture of houses and offices, has in fact exacerbated the situation. The developer has replaced offices with houses and more houses means more people and more cars.

It's hard to win. But do not forget that at the end of the day it will be a Plans Panel of councillors (not including me) who say either yea or nay, so the more people who write to protest the better.

In his last paragraph Mr Grogan gets personal. Let me tell him that although I would not dream of speaking for my councillor colleagues, at my age I am certainly not 'carving out a political career ' and am certainly not going to retire on an inflation proof pension.

Yes Members of Parliament can retire on fabulous pensions and Leeds City Council does have a contributory scheme for councillors, but I do not and will not subscribe to it.

Coun Graham Latty

Guiseley and Rawdon

Ward

Chairman,

NW Outer Area.

Switch-on

SIR, - That Otley Christmas lights switch-on in full:

Ten ... er.. nine, eight ...er ...seven ...er six, five, four ....and er ...three ... nearly there now... two, one ...

Well done, everyone, and may I wish you all a Merry Christmas even though it is only November. Your carol singing has been remarkable this year, a silent 'Silent night' we will never forget, until tomorrow morning hopefully.

So on behalf of myself, the vicar, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and all the charity shops who donated the free tree tinsel, can I say goodnight to you and don't forget to get your Easter eggs from your local shops and.........

Dan Cooney

612 La Dolces,

Villamartin,

Spain.

Climate issue

SIR, - Now that our work in the European Parliament is back to some sense of normal life after the confusion over the new European Commission team, I wanted to let you know about one or two things I am working on.

I have recently been elected President of the European Parliament's delegation to Switzerland, Iceland and Norway, having been a member of this delegation for the previous five years.

Through this body I have taken on a responsibility for relations with the Arctic region. I have visited the area several times over the years and have seen at first hand the devastation which global warming is already causing this fragile landscape and its peoples.

As a result I want to make climate change a key aspect of my term over the next five years. This week I hosted a meeting in the European Parliament which heard from Dr Bob Corell, a leading Artic change expert, who chaired the Arctic Climate Assessment, and Lara Hansen of WWF, both of whom were featured in a piece in The Independent recently. Of course, this is not something specific to a region far away; flooding, coastal erosion, poor harvest weather and declining fish population are just some of the impacts in Yorkshire and the Humber.

This was recognised by the Archbishop of York when he recently helped to launch the Churches' climate campaign, Operation Noah, in October.

Meanwhile throughout Yorkshire and the Humber Liberal Democrats are picking up the baton dropped by the other two parties and are putting the environment at the heart of our campaigns. At the very least I hope our campaigns both at European and a local level raise awareness but at the same time I want to effect some change.

Diana Wallis

MEP,

Land of Green Ginger,

HU1 2EA.

No job losses

SIR, - J Bush's letter (Wharfedale, November 25) suggests that special education teachers in North West Leeds are being made redundant. The three special schools in the city's North West 'wedge' are indeed being merged to form a specialist inclusive learning centre (SILC), but that is an organisational decision, which will not result in the closure of sites or a loss of jobs.

Indeed the council's executive member for education (Coun Richard Harker) has given a specific pledge that no teachers from the North West SILC are being made redundant.

The protection of Green Meadows School in Guiseley (now part of the SILC) is something which I and my fellow councillors in Guiseley and Rawdon Ward are taking very seriously. In the most recent full meeting of Leeds City Council (on November 3) I reminded members that, while inclusion in mainstream schools was right for some children with special needs, others could feel bewildered in a large school environment.

I said that special education required special expertise, and that local provision must be maintained. Green Meadows School provides a vital local service and we will not let it go.

Coun JOHN BALE

Guiseley and Rawdon

Ward,

Leeds City Council.