Letters to the Editor

Before this school was re-located to the Stoney Lee Middle site, I wrote to the T&A saying there would be traffic chaos and that's exactly the situation now.

It was bad enough having a middle school sited on the corner of a busy junction but now things are much worse.

For a start the children are now a lot younger at this school and need to be taken there and back.

Also the school has been moved from an easy, accessible spot near all the housing and the catchment area and where there was plenty of parking (but also many parents' walked to the old site).

Last year the Sun Inn's spare car-park accommodated all the cars waiting at Stoney Lee but this land has now been sold for housing.

It must have been obvious that this would be a real problem here after re-organisation so I wonder if anyone cares in Bradford Council?

The school and highways department need to get together and sort something out. There is plenty of spare land on the school site near the road, some of which could be turned into a parents' car park.

Mrs S Troy, Hill Foot, Shipley.

SIR - It seems so obvious that we should return the Labour Party to government, but the USA was faced with a similar choice. They rejected the party that had given them the first effective government in living memory. It is still possible that we could make the same mistake.

It is impossible to govern without upsetting some people. The Labour Party has offended me, locally messing about with our schools and selling off the land, and nationally by not making the Child Support Agency work humanely.

The low value of the Euro has damaged our industries, but the European Central Bank sets the value of the Euro. My guess is that it was trying to force the UK to adopt the Euro and give up the Pound. That might have been for our own good in the long run, but the choice of an acceptable conversion rate was impossible so far.

In comparison, the Conservatives set up the ghastly CSA. The way that they ran the economy beggars belief. They had oil money and money from the privatisations, but they still had to borrow up to £50,000,000,000 a year.

Even so they let schools fall apart and created massive unemployment. The joke is that they tell us it's "common sense" to vote for them.

William Boocock, Wheatley Lane, Ilkley.

SIR - Shock, horror! The Tories are committed to cutting taxes. Thank heavens one political party in this benighted realm is determined the electors are to be treated like adults and trusted to spend the money they have earned.

But what's new? The Tories have always been committed to lower taxation. Haven't always been successful, but imagine the outcry in a world recession if social security didn't keep pace with need.

Not that the present target of £8 billion in tax cuts is all that ambitious. It's only two per cent of what the Government is spending this year, and even the churches in their planned giving expect ten per cent from their congregations!

But these wicked people aspire to increase that to £20 billion in three years time.

Big deal! With the effect of inflation on wages and salaries, and on the government's tax-take, by 2004 that £20 billion is not likely to be more than three per cent of government spending.

Certainly we want good public services, but does anybody believe we are getting them now?

It has always been a time-honoured Tory principle, "Trust the People!", and that includes keeping more of their own money and spending it as they wish.

Alan Carcas, Cornmill Lane, Liversedge.

SIR - It is disappointing that during this bland election campaign, debate on the environment has been conspicuous by its absence. Rather the main scope of the debate has been the state of the economy and tax levels.

A proper care for the environment requires much more than recycling or cycling to work, important though these may be.

Rather this would involve the development of a regional economy, whereby goods would be produced and used locally, reducing the need for travel and hence pollution!

This would in turn generate local employment.

Furthermore, it is important that a tax system is developed which takes into account the scarcity of resources, higher taxes for goods derived from, for example, oil, while lower taxes for renewable goods such as wood.

A greater use must also be made of renewable energy which would better conserve resources and reduce pollution.

From the rhetoric of the main parties, the emphasis remains on economic growth, without the faintest awareness of the ecological effects involved.

Voters must choose where their respective priorities lie. Whether in short-term measures or in ecological sustainability.

Alec Suchi, Allerton Road, Allerton.

SIR - Amid the furore over "Prince Naseem" Prescott's left (a crumb of comfort for us traditional old Labour types) jab, it really does seem this election is now getting a touch lively.

Is there, one might ask, any place for modest, shrinking little violets who are offering themselves as candidates, I wonder?

I speak of the Conservative candidate in Shipley who doesn't really seem to want to get in touch with ordinary voters like me despite the fact that I write to him (five weeks ago), phone the party office and genuinely want to find out where he stands on things like bloodsports.

Sid Brown, Glenhurst Road, Shipley.

SIR - In his pre-election speeches, Tony Blair regularly says "there is still much to do."

Am I nave in thinking that if he believes what he says, he should have completed his elected term and continued until May 2002?

Peter A Rushforth, Sutton Drive, Cullingworth.