Readers' letters

It is accepted that all parties do this, but the latest efforts of the Tory Party, posing as the saviours of Silsden's Green Fields, insult the intelligence of anyone with a moderate memory.

I refer to their latest 'In Touch' leaflet and also to an article in the Keighley News of February 20. The authors of the leaflet call themselves Silsden Conservatives. In fact, the Keighley News photograph shows that many of them are not even in Craven Ward!

To get the full picture, we need to go back to 1989, when the Cobbydale Conservation Association, the fore-runners of Silsden Town Action Group (STAG), opposed plans for development along Hainsworth Road. In this they had the support of local Liberal Democrats. However, the development went ahead.

What the Tories would like us to forget is that they cold-shouldered the efforts of the Cobbydale Association, most of them refusing to sign the petition forms. Furthermore, when Councillor Eric Dawson was invited to speak at an open-air rally of the Association, he voiced his opposition to the protests and effectively declared himself in favour of the development!

Now, eight years later, the leaflet tells us that Councillor Dawson is 'spearheading the local campaign to recall Bradford's UDP as far as Silsden is concerned.'

How's that for a U-turn? Perhaps not so mysterious when we recall that the Tories were the majority party in Bradford in 1990, when the Hainsworth Road development plans were submitted!

Since then Labour has edged back to power in Bradford, but things don't change for Silsden. To say that the Bradford Labour Group has been 'unhelpful' would be a euphemism! Councillor Jack Womersley's outburst against STAG members during the recent Panorama broadcast is typical. Moreover, it plays right into the hands of the so-called Silsden Conservatives.

On the brighter side, I learn that Ann Cryer, our MP, is taking up our cause in Parliament, making Silsden a special issue. I find her sincere support more heartening than all the noisy utterances of rival Bradford Councillors.

HAMISH HAY,

Craven Avenue,

Silsden.

SIR - Your editing of my letter, published in last week's Keighley News, missed out a crucial sentence and means that your readers will have a less than full picture of what the Worth Valley Labour Party's position is in relation to our local schools.

Our February branch meeting expressed support for our three local councillors for their on-going support for rural schools and asked the Labour Party at Constituency and District level to recognise that many schools in the Worth Valley serve a special purpose within their rural communities, over and above their purely educational role.

JAN SMITHIES,

Worth Valley Labour Party.

Editor's note:- We clearly state that letters may be edited.

SIR - Bradford Councillor Jack Womersley asserted New Labour would need 5.2 million houses, not the 4.4 million the previous Government had decided on.

I would respectfully suggest he starts speaking with his bosses in London, because even John Prescott has now admitted that the forecast of 4.4 million houses is a flawed concept and the presumptions upon which the original forecast was made are spurious.

These are not assumptions on my part but that of highly paid advisors to New Labour administration.

I could continue to enlarge the list of brain power which has convinced New Labour that the forecast of 4.4 million new homes was, allegedly, a calculation made on the back of a cigarette packet, in a toilet situated in the Palace of Westminster, by politicians of the last administration desperately seeking to kickstart a moribund economy. The overall consensus of opinion suggests that once these figures were stated to be official they became facts.

No quality statistician, or University dealing in planning matters, in this country, would quantify or qualify projections of 4.4 million houses, let alone his stated 5.2 million homes.

If he doubts the above information, then maybe he would telephone me and arrange a meeting, where I should be only too pleased to shower him with newly issued information which might make him realise that what this organisation and others have been saying for the past eight years is that the figures he and his colleagues have been using are wrong.

To admit that he could possibly have been wrong in using flawed information would, I suggest, elevate Cllr Womersley into a saint, or a least a man of stature.

DAVID SAMUELS,

Aire-Worth

Reform Association.

SIR - I thank Mrs Cryer for her comments appended to my letter (KN 13.2.98). It was interesting to note that she did not see fit to respond to my question relating to the Government's position on Local Government funding, perhaps she has difficulty in defending their attitude to public spending.

In the meantime surely her comment regarding the UDP was said very much tongue in cheek. It has been required of local authorities for some 50 years that forward plans for land use must be prepared on roughly a ten year cycle, taking into account the projected population along with other factors.

The original legislation was introduced by the Labour Government of 1947 or thereabouts.

It was the Labour Council that designated the Green Acres of Silsden for house building and the Labour Government that approved that use.

At no time did the last Conservative Government instruct Bradford Metropolitan Council to designate those 'Green Acres' in and around Silsden for housing.

CLLR ERIC DAWSON,

Craven Ward.

SIR - Regarding the filthy outskirts of Keighley - approaching from Cox's roundabout between the Beeches and Beeches Terrace is a derelict garage, overgrown with weeds and fly-papered. That could do with a tidy up. What would the original occupants of the Beeches, the Craven Family, have thought living next door to it?

A few months ago I wrote to Mr Bateman, who is the Conservation Planner for Bradford Council, and also on the board of the Bradford Preservation Trust, who knows and cares about old buildings so I'm told. They were wanting suggestions regarding the future of the Lodge House at the main gate to Cliffe Castle in Skipton Road.

I put some forward but never had the courtesy of a reply.

If anyone has any suggestions, perhaps they would send them to Mr Bateman, Conservation Planner, Bradford Council, 8th Floor, Jacobs Well, Bradford BD1 5BW.

R LAPWORTH,

Airedale View,

Cross Hills.

SIR - Having read several letters over the past few weeks of derogatory remarks about our dustbinmen I would just like to point out that the binmen who call at our house every Wednesday morning are brilliant.

They're always on time, take any amount of litter we leave out, never leave a mess, are happy and cheerful and are even polite to our guard dog -though given half the chance he'd bite their leg off!

So, no complaints from this direction about our binmen. May they keep up the good work.

MRS DEBORAH JACKSON,

Hawksbridge Lane,

Oxenhope.

SIR - When our street cleaners have done their good work and helped by making this town a cleaner place for all to enjoy, down goes the litter as fast as ever.

I'm sure most people will agree with me that this is a gross insult to those men whose effort has helped brighten up the area.

The answer is so simple as we've been told to do many times - drop your litter in the bin. Don't throw it down and make this place a dirty town.

J BRINDLEY,

Utley.

SIR- Re Mr Bancroft's letter (KN February 20) headed 'Road Tranquility'. I'm glad you're happy Mr Bancroft - you've really cheered me up.

I have a challenge for you - come and savour the tranquility of life at my house at the Haworth end of Hebden Road. Thrill to the sound of pneumatic drills at 7.30 on Sunday morning, to the never-ending backwards and forwards of construction vehicles, some of them so big they need a police escort.

Marvel at the constant stream of motorists doing three-point turns, obviously unable to figure out the meaning of the phrase 'road closed'. Can you cope with missing all this excitement?

Enjoy your peace and quiet Mr Bancroft, I'll await my invitation to your street party!

R TEATHER,

Hebden Road, Haworth.

SIR - Through the media of the Keighley News we would like it to be known what we think would be the answer to the problems with regards to traffic crossing the Green and dispel the rumours, half truths etc circulating at the moment.

We are very concerned for the safety of our mains and services, these cross the Green. Should the culvert collapse so would our services.

You can imagine what effect this will have, no water, no toilets, to say the least and a lot of houses etc will be affected.

We have asked the council to consider putting a three ton maximum weight limit on this area.

It may not be the solution in the long-term but would allay some of our fears, make the area safer, after all the Green is a designated recreation area, part of the green fields.

N RUSHWORTH,

Oak Treet Court, Silsden.

SIR - Last week my nine years old son, who has a statement of special educational needs, was meant to wait after school while my wife visited the Life Education Caravan. A form requesting supervision was duly completed and submitted.

You can imagine my wife's concern when on going to the gym to collect my son she was told he was not there. Apparently he was waiting outside the school with a friend, having failed to appreciate what he was meant to do. This failure to follow instructions being a feature of his particular educational needs; he often says 'yes' as an answer because he has learnt that is an appropriate answer even if he does not understand what the question is about. He also finds change a difficulty and cannot cope well with new situations until he has experienced something very similar.

That there was a confusion can be understood, although you will appreciate that coming so soon after an abduction attempt outside another middle school in the area would cause upset when a child could not be found.

However I found that the school's attitude was very unhelpful. I complained that they did not appear concerned and was told in reply by the headteacher "... received 14 reply slips and only three children actually turned up for supervision. These children... were taken to the gym. I do not see that it is our responsibility to search for the children who did not arrive."

I find such an attitude extremely poor, especially when the staff tried to blame my son's friend for not coming back to school.

My son has learning problems and has to have additional classroom support. I am writing this because I think the attitude of the school needs to be highlighted.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED.

The school in question was contacted but declined the invitation to comment.

SIR - I would like to thank everyone who responded to my appeal for a portable dialysis machine. I would like to thank all workmates, friends and relatives for their time and effort.

DAVE MANN,

Providence Crescent,

Oakworth.

SIR - Please may I express very warm thanks to the citizens of Keighley - from the oldest to the youngest - for their generosity in giving their coins to the Wishing Well in the Airedale Centre over the Christmas and New Year period.

This money is for the Millennium Appeal for the Shared Parish Church where many items, including roof repair and considerable redecoration, will altogether require a sum well in excess of £25,000.

We received £1,052 - mainly in copper coins, probably given by the smallest and youngest members of our community. This is a wonderful start to our fundraising.

DAVID MILLER,

Chairman,

Millennium Appeal,

Shared Church.

SIR - One would have been more concerned for Danny Parker's decimated menagerie, (KN, Feb 20) had he sited it and the caravan park, on a brownfield site.

ROBERT STANTON,

Main Street, Stanbury.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.