SIR - With reference to the row that has been sparked off in Barkerend over the cash that is being spent on regenerating privately-owned homes. I suspect that this row will spread even further. I would suggest it will spread throughout the whole home-owning area of the Bradford Metropolitan district.

Along with the pleasure of owning your home come two responsibilities: one of paying the mortgage, and the other of maintaining the property. At least that was the principle in the past.

However, it would now seem that if you fail to do this, along comes a Fairy Godmother in the form of Regen 2000 and proceeds to do this for you.

Wonderful! For £100/£200 you can have £4,000 of work carried out on your home. After that, why not sell the property? It will surely fetch a better price with new gutters, tiles, gates, fences, sand-blasted and pointed.

As a retired senior citizen living on a main road, I would like to apply for £4,000 worth of improvement work to be carried out on my property. Please advise to whom I should forward my £100 cheque.

S Walker, Beacon Road, Wibsey.

SIR - Interesting to note (T&A, February 12) that council tax payers will face additional costs in order to fund more police for the county's streets.

Taxpayers will readily recall that the amount for the police authority was increased for the current financial year by a massive 24.8 per cent and we were led to believe that this was an exceptional amount, a one-off situation, which included the costs of the riots.

As this event has not been repeated, then to the simplest of financial minds the percentage increase for the forthcoming tax year should in fact be a reduction in police costs even after allowing for inflation.

On local taxation in general, I totally agree with your correspondent K J Trocki (T&A, February 12) that while every other single section of the community has the ability and financial acumen to work within the confines of inflation, this talent is sadly missing by all those involved in the local authority.

G M Binns, Middlebrook Rise, Bradford 8.

SIR - So Councillor David Ford becomes demoralised by "attacks" on councillors in the Letters page. By the electorate no less! How precious he is.

He simply doesn't get it, does he? He and his colleagues are about to impose a crippling 11.5 per cent council tax increase, further pushing into poverty those on low fixed incomes. And some of this punitive increase will be for the Council's own pension fund.

So those of you who can't afford your own pension can rest easy knowing that you are paying for the retirements of those in Mr Ford's heroic public sector. At the same time councillors will be pocketing record-breaking allowances increases. They will then have the brassneck to come knocking on our doors wanting votes in the local elections.

Barry Daniels, Hawes Road, Bradford 5.

SIR - For losers like myself who dread Valentine's Day post which usually comprises "final reminders" there has been a crumb of comfort recently as a result of our Government's sure-footed attempts to justify the possible bombing of several hundreds of thousands innocent civilians.

Yes, I'm talking about the way in which an ageing PhD thesis was lifted verbatim (punctuation slips included) as part of the propaganda battle.

No doubt quite a few of your readers have spent some of their time on research of a sort. One of my former superiors examined snails and "Lucky Jim" in the delightful Kingsley Amis novel "did" the English navy for a couple of years in the Tudor period.

So, you university librarians, start dusting those old theses - at last there might be a use for them!

Sid Brown, Glenhurst Road, Shipley.

SIR - Leaders are considered to be teachers, heroes, role models and trend- setters. They are cherished for their qualities of vision, shrewdness, resilience and patience.

What type of leaders do we have around the world today? Rogues, usurpers, copycat stooges etc.

Today's world is violent, untrustworthy, immoral, unpredictable. Humanity is at its lowest ebb. The man in the street feels manipulated, unsafe, fed-up and lost.

Violence is everywhere. The leaders' language is hate, violence and propaganda, street culture is violence and hate. People live in a constant state of insecurity and terror.

Sixty years ago there were no terrorist - no IRA, no al-Qaida, no Al Fateha, no Mujahideen. There were still some moral values in the world.

The west is a democratic world. Look at the leaders, how humane, just and fair they are. Look at the ways they are scaring their public, 24 hours a day, with stories of anthrax, ricin and deadly poisons.

Are they not suggesting new ways of violence to the world over?

Zohra Jabeen, Ferndown Green, Bradford.

SIR - It sickens me to hear all the flak that Ravenscliffe estate gets from the people who have watched this estate go to ruin: Bradford Council. This was once the jewel of council estates. After living there for years I have witnessed the destruction of a once-thriving community with tree-lined roads, grass verges and good neighbours.

People in high places earning big pay packets thought they knew what we needed on our estate. Many times they have started improvements and stopped due to lack of funds, leaving the place looking like a patchwork quilt, and then starting other schemes instead of completing the last one.

Now it's rebuild time with houses that are not affordable to the decent families left there. This means that more money will be needed for Housing Benefit for those who, along with the Council, have brought this estate to its knees.

I just hope that with these plans that they get rid of the dregs of Ravenscliffe and leave the decent people to rebuild this community.

As for the name Holywell Village - what a joke. "Ravo" will always be "Ravo" to people who remember the good times.

T R Bennett, Hew Clews, Bradford 7.

SIR - Saltaire CC had a perfectly good scorebox, but the structure was wooden and the local youths tried to torch it. Hence the purchase of a safer replacement costing the Lottery Fund tens of thousands of pounds.

Roberts Park had an ornate Half Moon building which served refreshments for park-goers at no cost to the Council. Now it's being allowed to rot by a council which boasted about Saltaire in its fantasy Capital of Culture bid.

A bit of remedial work would revive an historic building that could be a useful resource for the Saltaire Village Society, community groups as well as the cricket club.

No doubt the Council would restore it with vigour if it was earmarked for Shipley asylum seekers!

Meanwhile the Council hires a park ranger to patrol the park on a motor bike. He might as well hail his entry with a tannoy.

The wreckers hear him coming and beat a hasty retreat.

Reg Nelson, Westfield Road, Heaton.

SIR - Talking about crossings (D Blackwell, Letters, February 12), in Carlisle Road they seem to be putting crossings up every 15 yards. In fact at the last count they had put up a total of 11 lights and crossings from the junction of Kings Road to Whetley Lane lights.

Perhaps Councillor Hawkesworth would like to come and monitor in Undercliffe where we have not got one crossing at all. Oh yes, they are putting one up at the end of Idle Road, well away from where we want it. Typical of Bradford Met.

No shops, and no schools anywhere near, they are further up the road. I don't think planning is Bradford Council's strong point.

Neither is listening to the people of Bradford. We have got a petition, written letters, been to meetings, but to no avail as they just do not listen.

What do we pay council tax for? For our Council to do just what they like, regardless of us.

Barbara J Rudd, Roger Court, Undercliffe.

SIR - May I say how proud we all are of the amazing courage and determination shown by young Claire Heathcliff, right, in saving her baby sister from what could have been very serious and life-threatening injuries. She has shown that children are capable of handling situations beyond their age and is a credit to her parents.

May I also say well done to Trevor Binns, the WYMAS call taker, and to the paramedics who attended. I myself work for the emergency services and know how hard it is when taking calls and giving medical advice. Trevor is a credit to his department.

Well done also to Claire who made it so easy for the paramedics to take vital information from her mum. I hope that Sabrina is now feeling better. I wish the family well and Sabrina a speedy recovery.

A Ahmed, Lidget Green, Bradford.