Time the districts got their share

SIR - I am forever reading in the T&A that another area of Bradford has received a large amount of money - usually at the level of millions.

Then you look at areas such as Wyke, Low Moor and Oakenshaw and what do we get? Urban Village Funds at the level of £75,000.

When will the powers-that-be recognise that areas such as Wyke have needs and problems just as urgent as the rest of the city?

Things such as unadopted roads - Wyke must have more than anywhere else in Bradford.

Such as a new building for Wyke Manor School - let's hope a positive decision is made before the building actually falls down.

Such as the need to address speeding on a large number of roads - Rooley Avenue, Cleckheaton Road, Wilson Road, Towngate, Huddersfield Road.

And what about facilities for the area - no youth facilities, a park which never seems to be cleaned, bus services which run occasionally and rarely on time.

I could go on but I wonder when we on the edges of our city will get the funding we deserve.

John Stead, Rooley Avenue, Odsal.

One law for us...

SIR - It appears there is a bending of the rules in all echelons of government, whether it be local, national or European.

We have councillors claiming expenses they have not incurred; the government with the latest "loans for lords" scandal and MEPs claiming expenses for first-class travel when they have actually used budget airlines.

These are the people who pass laws that the rest of us are expected to abide by.

How is it that ordinary people are taken to Court when they have claimed benefits they are not entitled to, sentenced and made to repay the money whereas MEPs, for example, just carry on claiming?

Mrs E M Baxter, Hoyle Court Road, Baildon.

Losing faith

SIR - It is obviously not only me who is finding the sentences and comments being made by the judiciary are reaching mind-boggling proportions to say the least.

We now have Judge Roger Scott (T&A, March 16) informing a benefits cheat that because she has cheated the state out of only £10,000, she would not be locked up due to the fact that they do not normally jail people for benefit fraud if the amount is less than £20,000.

Well that's not only good news but extremely useful information to know for all those individuals who are committing or are about to commit benefit fraud.

The same judge would probably jail a pensioner who withheld Council Tax because the amount being paid or requested was above inflation.

No wonder crime is rife and people are losing all faith in the justice system.

E Mills, Wrose Mount, Wrose.

Flawed proposal

SIR - The high-occupancy proposal between junction 26 and 27 of the M62 is flawed in that it involves the nearside lane and mainly considers cars.

Eligible traffic from before the junction trying to get in the lane will be crossing ineligible traffic trying to join the motorway through shoals of HGVs.

Selfishness and stupidity already characterise the behaviour of car drivers using the existing 'extended joining lanes' and this proposal will only compound that.

Congestion between the two junctions is not just down to volume of traffic but also driver behaviour, mostly by users of the outside lane and those 'joiners' who are trying to get across to it as quickly as they can.

If the high-occupancy lanes were the outside lanes and started before 26 and 27 they may stand a chance of helping.

Truly radical thinking would be to make the outside lane goods-vehicle only, as most of those are passing the junctions, not entering and leaving at them.

Even easier, use those expensive and useless electric signs to allow any vehicle, including HGVs, to use any lane between 26 and 27 at certain times, or is that too simple?

Martin Webster, Mount View Court, Cleckheaton.

Bomb justified

SIR - David Lawson (T&A, March 24) goes into great detail as to what could or not could have been done regarding the war with Japan, and obtaining surrender.

This is of course with hindsight, and with absolutely no guarantee of success, so his diatribe is worthless.

However, I ask the question: "Did dropping the atom bomb save one allied serviceman's life"?

The answer is without question, yes. On that point alone it was justified.

G Goldsbrough, Dale Court, Ilkley.