SIR – Where is the debate about having an elected Mayor with real power in Bradford? Voting is less than four weeks away.

We always speak up for Bradford. Unesco City of Film, World Heritage Site, the best curries, a university that has made a distinctive contribution to life in the UK and draws many foreign students, some very high-quality medicine practised in our hospitals.

Here is our view from Barkerend Road.

We could not get our dustbin emptied for two months. Half the gullies are silted up to the brim because they have not been cleared for years. There are two very dangerous crossing points for pedestrians on this road. The area is lethal for cyclists.

Nobody gets fined for dropping rubbish. There is no evidence of change in our hole in the middle of the city. There has been a precipitous decline in city centre shopping. The airport, which was a money spinner, was sold off and the cash spent. It is the only city we have ever lived in where the train has to reverse either in or out.

There are not enough primary school places. We give zero attention to heritage buildings. And it would not take much for us to lose both of our major sports teams.

We pay our ten principal Council officers over £1.2 million a year between them. Who runs Bradford? Whoever it is does not seem to be doing a very good job of it.

We will be voting for having an elected mayor, even if they turn out to be the Bradford City mascot.

Dale and Beverley Barton, Barkerend Road, Bradford