Let's put the pride back in our village

SIR - I have lived in Idle village most of my life. When you compare it with many other small villages that look really nice and tidy, I am sorry to say that there is no pride left in Idle.

People go around either spitting in the streets or urinating in back alleys (because of the lack of toilets which the Council did away with). Also, the car congestion problem really does require looking into.

We are told that it is our own fault that there are hardly any shops, and those that are left are gradually being turned into homes. What a place to bring friends or visitors from out of town.

Why don't people do something about the shabbiness that surrounds us? Let's see some flowers planted to add a bit of colour. There is a lot of history in Idle. If you tidy it up a bit, people will be proud to visit.

Also, let us get away from the idea of more takeaways. Let us instead have some shops that everyone wants, such as a paper shop, a butcher and a chemist.

Let us all start to tidy our village up and bring back the pride.

J A Wills, Hampton Place, Idle.

Show me the exit

SIR - May I endorse the letter from Steve Brear "I'm a householder get me out of here" (T&A, December 8). I too feel anger, frustration and betrayal at the management of this once-proud city.

I read in the same paper that yet more money in the form of Regen 2000 is to be used to renovate private houses in the Barkerend Road area. Is this just the start? Are we all to get grants for the upgrade of our ageing properties? I think not!

We and our parents have paid all the taxes levied upon us over the many years, and while working, endeavoured to maintain our dwellings to a high standard.

When I travel down Great Horton Road, the area where I was raised, I hang my head in shame as to what my parents would think and feel if they saw it now.

When family circumstances allow, I too will exit this crumbling and lawless city.

Dave Brundle, Hill End, Great Horton

Waste of time

SIR - The Parish Council precept for Oxenhope for a band "D" home is to be around £10 to £12. This is to be additional to present rates where these costs are currently included, so in a nutshell, we are to be charged additionally for a second time for services already there.

The services the present parish councillors wish to run are presently overseen and funded by Bradford Metropolitan from proceeds of our paid council tax. These services are executed by employed or contracted personnel who have academic and practical skills with necessary resources to carry out the tasks.

Are we sure these parish councillors have these credentials? What is to say that the volunteers who will follow and fill their positions in years to come after they retire would wish to carry on these burdens, which will be bestowed upon these parish councils at whatever the costs to each resident of the particular parish?

I am also sure many others would voice concerns in claiming the whole concept is a waste of time and the squandering of council taxpayers' money?

Paul Dyson, Moorhouse Lane, Oxenhope.

Legal demands

SIR - As one who began his law enforcement career in 1957, I can assure Robert Collinson (T&A, Letters, December 11) that morale has always been affected by paperwork and bureaucracy.

The reason - as recent high-profile acquittals have shown - is not politics but the demands of the legal system which require a seamless chain of evidence prepared in mind-numbing detail.

If there is the slightest flaw, it will be exposed by the defence and the case dismissed by the judge.

To lose a case after months of hard work - often on a technicality - causes in the investigators rage, frustration, and despair in equal measure as well as an intense dislike of individuals who seek to exploit their problems for political motives.

As to Mr Collinson's pledge to provide another 1,500 police officers for West Yorkshire, I suggest he checks again with Conservative Central Office.

The funding was supposed to come from savings made from processing asylum seekers on a "far away island".

Now that Oliver Letwin - whose idea this was - has moved to shadow the Treasury, the proposal has been quietly dropped and with it - I assume - the source of finance for the increase in police numbers.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley.

Seasonal promise

SIR - Andrea Walker (Letters, December 9) is seriously upset at my response to one of her previous letters. Without rehashing the whole saga ad nauseam, all I can say is my reply was written very much tongue-in-cheek. Accordingly, I find her use of the word "disingenuous" just a teeny-weeny bit over the top!

But at this season of goodwill for Ms Walker and her fellow believers, I will hold my hands up and say mea culpa, and promise not to be so naughty in future. Well, until next year, anyway.

Peter Wilson, Thornhill Grove, Calverley.

Imported beliefs

SIR - Regarding William Forde (re: The Greatest Evil, Letters, December 15).

Since when was Christianity a "native custom and religion" in England? It is a Middle Eastern religion inextricably linked to Judaism and Islam - or did you forget that Jesus was supposedly King of the Jews and Born in Bethlehem?

Chris Hall, Beamsley Road, Shipley.

Poetry defence

SIR - What's Jim Greenhalf got against poetry? He is, after all, something of a poet himself. And yet we read, in his review of the Love Apple (December 13): "I stopped going to the Lurve Apple when I learned that it had become popular with council officers and certain poets. Council officers I can take but not the latter, Shelley's proclaimed legislators of the world, and their dire peace poetry."

Yes, some of the poetry performed on the Apple's main stage is concerned with peace, but I don't know how Jim knows it's dire, since I don't think he has ever been there to hear it.

Since poets like Nick Toczek and Bruce Barnes have won prizes for their work, Gerard Benson being internationally respected for having got poems on to the London underground, all of whom have appeared recently there, he can't surely have them in mind?

Anyway, poetry (when performed) is usually in the evening and in the performance area, which is at the opposite end of the building from the dining area. You can eat while listening to words and/or music, or vice versa, but you don't have to.

Karl Dallas, Church Green, Bradford.

Carton concerns

SIR - Following the successful convictions for fly-tipping, I am pleased to see that Bradford is finally beginning to deal with this menace which has blighted the city for many years.

However, there is still a long way to go and I would ask the authorities to continue with their surveillance of businesses who do not care about the state of the streets but are happy to bank their profits.

The main problem is people throwing takeaway cartons on the street. This is an area where we can make the biggest impact by introducing on-the-spot fines. Only then can we look forward to a cleaner and better Bradford.

Qamar Hassan, Rhodesway, Bradford.

Poppy success

SIR - The Low Moor and Wyke branch of the Royal British Legion covers the above two townships, Wibsey and parts of Bierley and Oakenshaw. Once again this generous support of the Poppy Appeal has been magnificent. The all-time high total is £14,850.

Thanks to all on behalf of the RBL and the many ex-service men and their families who will be helped in their time of need.

John Crick (chairman of Low Moor and Wyke Branch, Royal British Legion), Westfield Lane, Wyke.

Our dying centre

SIR - Will all readers, especially those in Bradford, spare a thought for us in Bingley and our sad, decaying shopping centre and no public toilets.

Action is needed now, not five years down the line. Don't we have a right to a better life, not being charged the earth for shopping in ASDA? We need Morrisons soon, and other stores. We want a town to be proud of.

A Rodgers (a newcomer from Birmingham), Peel House, Crossley Wood Road, Bingley.