Rising house prices and what it means

There's a way of adding further information about property values. All property transactions are registered with the Inland Revenue so that the records of HM Land Registry provide the most comprehensive source of actual sale prices.

Which is useful because markets don't work effectively unless all parties have good information. Your readers can reach that database on http://www.landreg.gov.uk and in the regional section.

In Scotland, individual transactions have been available on the public register for several decades and enable people to know what is happening in the house market. Just as the stock market lists all transactions - and for much the same reason.

The Land Registry records that in both 2000 and last year, the total number of homes sold was 648 in the whole LS29 postal area that stretches from Langbar through Ilkley to Menston. That is about one in 20 of all of the homes in the area and in each year, and half the national rate of property transfers.

Analysing the data for all of LS29 reveals the following that may be of interest:

The number of flats sold rose from 11 per cent to 14 per cent of the total in 2001. In Ilkley and Ben Rhydding, one in four sales were of flats. The average price of a flat in LS29 9 rose to £109,000.

The records don't separate out Middleton, so the highest priced area is shown as West Ilkley (LS29 9). Menston values are about a third less than that and Burley and Ben Rhydding a quarter less.

Despite the shift of sales to flats, the average selling price of all types and comparing each complete year rose by 20 per cent - more than twice the national average. Prices recorded in LS29 increased by a third in the final quarter of 2001 and reflected a higher proportion of sales of larger properties.

There are some inferences that can be drawn from the Land Registry records.

First of all, the exceptional and continuing growth in the sales of flats accords with the older and therefore smaller households that prefer Ilkley. That is also reflected in the lower numbers of school- aged children hereabouts. Ought not that preference for flats to be met by some planning presumption?

My second deduction is that the exceptionally steep rises in Ilkley property values - about ten times the rate of retail price increases - surely reflects a substantial imbalance of demand over supply of local homes? It probably also reflects the benign national conditions of rising prosperity, and low interest and inflation rates.

Finally, the rapid rate of price increases makes the prospect of low cost housing in Ilkley just a mirage.

Andrew Dundas

2 Pines Cottages,

Parish Ghyll Drive,

Ilkley.

Policing concerns

SIR, - As a serving police officer with 21 years' service and a local resident, I feel compelled to write in response to Chief Supt Sunderland's proposals to brief officers on at Shipley Police Office instead of letting them brief on at Ilkley.

Over the many years as a police officer I have seen many changes and agree that change is necessary in order for any organisation to meet the challenges placed upon it. Indeed, I have seen many good changes to the service over the years, for example getting more of us out of cars and walking and talking.

However,in my experience, when officers are allowed to brief on at a station far way from the area they will actually be working in, it has one effect, and that is to reduce the amount of effective cover provided in that location.

It will take time for the old shift to go back to Shipley, update their colleagues and get changed ready to go home and it takes even longer to brief on (have a cup of tea!) and get organised ready to go out, not to mention getting waylaid with paperwork which needs to be completed before patrol can commence.

Also criminals aren't stupid, they know our shift patterns and they know when an area is vulnerable because the officers are all briefing at a station miles away.

Ilkley is a 'remote location' compared with other parts of the division. However, this should be a good reason to keep officers there not remove them for briefing elsewhere. West Yorkshire Police has the technology to brief people at Ilkley without the necessity of going to Shipley, through fax, telephone and computer. There is also a limit to the amount of kit that can be carried in a vehicle anyway and surely Ilkley Station is big enough to store some riot shields and other emergency equipment for deployment when necessary.

I suspect that there is a bigger political agenda afoot here, not to mention a financial one. After all, if the force is intelligence led then it would make sense to have more officers in areas where crime is higher, but don't the residence of Ilkley deserve the same level of service as those in other parts of the county?

I have no objections to a proportion of my council tax going to fund more deprived areas of the Police Authority's area but I object that my local area has to suffer as a consequence.

I hope I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ilkley loses its Police Station within the next five years.

NAME AND ADDRESS

SUPPLIED

Rate explained

SIR, - I hope you will allow me to correct a statement which appeared in your columns last week. The Bradford rate set was not a 'large rise' needing masking.

The rate of 3.9 per cent increase, supported jointly by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties was the lowest in West Yorkshire, lower than the Government guideline figure, and below the metropolitan average figure. It is expected to be one of the lowest in the country.

Unfortunately the combined police and fire precept is far higher than in previous years. This is partly due to the Bradford riots and insufficient support from the Government. It is also partly due to unsustainable pension schemes.

The police rate has increased 45 per cent since 1997 and yet we have fewer police on the beat.

Anne Hawkesworth

Ilkley District and

Parish Councillor,

City Hall, Bradford.

Consultation

SIR, - With regard to the Rights of Way event at the Town Hall on February 2, readers may be interested to hear that Ilkley Civic Society has requested the Countryside Agency to organise a more extensive opportunity for consultation in Ilkley for the next area under consideration (termed Upper North West).

Many Ilkley people frequent the area of the Dales which it encompasses, including Beamsley Beacon and Askwith and Denton Moors just to the north of Ilkley. Equally, it is important that any landowners and farmers in the area who may be affected have the opportunity to make their views known.

We understand that the areas designated for access are drawn up without any field surveying being undertaken, and therefore we recognise that there may be the need for amendment; negotiation over this being an important part of the total process.

The Civic Society does not have a formal view on the pros and cons of increased access to the countryside. However, we think that there should be increased public awareness and opportunities for everyone to inform themselves about the Act and its local implications. Whilst the full maps covering the Lower North West area, which included Bradford District, were available on the Internet for consultation, access was rather slow and site navigation was not at all easy.

Those of us who missed the statutory consultation on January 9 in Skipton were grateful for the short event in Ilkley on February 2 therefore. We hope that the Countryside Agency will take notice of our request and make suitable arrangements.

Helen Kidman

Chairman,

Ilkley Civic Society.

School reunion

SIR, - I am currently organising an Ilkley Grammar School Reunion for those who attended the Grammar School in the year group 1977-80/82.

That is, those pupils who started the Grammar school in 1977 (The Queens Silver Jubilee year) and either left the fifth form in 1980 or the sixth form in 1982) ie. now aged 37/38 years.

With the help of some friends and the Friendsreunited.co.uk web site, we have been able to track down quite a few fellow pupils both near and far, but there are still many we have not tracked down. From the IGS archives, I have a list of 335 names.

The reunion is planned to take place in Ilkley on September 21, 2002? Please note that this reunion is unconnected to that being organised in October by David Shaw and Sarah Beattie.

Sally Brown (nee Johnson),

10 Old Mill Close,

Burley in Wharfedale,

Ilkley, LS29 7RU

Tel: (01943) 863102.

email- sally@whirst.demon.co.uk

Street names

SIR, - Re 'Street signs honour school heads' in the Gazette on February 28.

Could someone explain to me why Mr F Newbould, headmaster of the former Burley-in-Wharfedale National School from approximately 1956-1973 should not be honoured by having a street named after him on the new building development on the school site just because he happens to be alive!

How proud he would feel to have his contribution to the education and care of former pupils recognised. Why not?

Pam Shaw

Cobble Cottage,

12 Greenhow Park,

Burley-in-Wharfedale.

Church issue

SIR, - I was very glad to see in your issue of February 21 that our MP, Mrs Cryer, is tabling a Motion in Parliament to end the Church of England's exemption from the Sex Discrimination Act.

I can assure her there will be quite a lot of support from within the Church of England for such a move. My only reservation is that she has not included the Roman Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, etc, from this provision. No religious group should be exempt from some Act of Parliament that protects human rights.

Perhaps in future she will consider legislation against the way religious groups sometimes categorise homosexuals, and the way religious groups sometimes condemn each other, believing that their group alone has the key to heaven.

As Hans Kung has said, there will be no peace in this world without peace between religions. They should be agents for peace and justice. Sometimes they are not.

DAVID WEBB

Thwaites Avenue,

Ilkley.