SIR - Travelling down Oak Lane from Listers Mill to the park gates, I was appalled by the litter and rubbish lying around.

When I was a child in the Thornbury district, shopkeepers took pride in their own shop frontage and it was a morning ritual for them to take a bucket of hot soapy water and a long brush to scrub down their own pavement.

The Council was not expected to do the cleaning up - as would seem to be the case today.

A phone call to Bradford cleansing department informed me that they regularly service the Oak Lane and Duckworth Lane areas.

However, they are fighting a losing battle if these shopkeepers are not willing to take some pride in their own environment.

Kathleen Cockroft, Spring Farm Lane, Harden.

SIR - With reference to Mubarik Iqbal (Letters, August 26) I always thought if one went to live in another country, it would be customary to learn their language so one could communicate with your fellow citizens. But in Bradford we seem to be in danger of our children having to sit in class and learn the Asian tongue.

Yes, agreed if they so desire, that is their right, but I sincerely hope they are not forced to.

After all we speak English in Bradford and every child should be taught to speak it as it is a universal language.

Children could be taught their own mother tongue in the home, or in their religious buildings.

It will cost the Bradford Council a lot of money to put this into practice and I am sure the money could be spent on more important issues.

B J Rudd, Roger Court, Undercliffe.

SIR - Re Rachel Lloyd's letter about the up-and-coming Bradford rock band Threshold Shift (T&A, August 28).

I too have noticed that there is a real "buzz" emerging these days within the Bradford live music scene - all the more remarkable given that we lost one of the North's best music venues some years ago, The Queen's Hall, when it was refurbished to aim for a different crowd.

More and more public houses are now booking regular live bands as a result of "testing the water" with local bands like Threshold Shift and experiencing a busy, profitable and trouble-free evening.

Threshold Shift are currently furiously gigging the new "Bradford circuit" and I've seen them locally a few times in these last three weeks alone.

Surely they're destined to be noticed one day by a major label "shark".

However, you can bet your socks that Bradford now has the foundations to ensure that scores of other local bands will follow in their tracks and entertain us all.

Christine Atkinson, Marsland Place, Thornbury.

SIR - Having attended the very first Idle Festival on Bank Holiday Monday, I felt I must write and let you know of its success.

This event was organised by the publicans from four local inns and each provided entertainment.

The highlight to me was watching local rock band Threshold Shift singing their own songs at an ear-blasting 10,000 watts while on the back of a truck!

I have just returned from the Leeds rock festival and have to say that this local band played with the same quality as those famous bands that headlined in the festival.

This is proof that we have the real thing here on our very own doorstep!

Marcia Walker, Mount Grove, Eccleshill.

SIR - I was not surprised to read that one of our councillors had made excuses for a group of thugs who were stoning cars in Girlington. I'm afraid this is symptomatic of all that is wrong with Bradford. The level to which its standards have sunk and the almost total breakdown in law and order is now accepted as the norm.

Councillor Hussain said it was only a minor incident, the like of which happens all over Bradford! Exactly, but what an appalling situation and what a bleak picture of our city this councillor paints.

Instead of making pathetic excuses, shouldn't he be expressing disgust at the actions of those hooligans and jumping up and down, protesting that something is done to find the culprits and ensure that this never happens again.

Too often we see our councillors and MPs following their own personal agendas and political dogma rather than looking to improve the tattered image of the city as a whole.

What outsider, reading of the actions of those yobs and the statement of the councillor, would ever want to live, work or even visit our desperate city?

M Wood, Westercroft View, Northowram

SIR - I fully endorse all that has been said by Clive Barton and Michael Ramsden (T&A, August 20) in response to Graham Hoyle's outrageous plan for a "modern ring road and acres of free parking wherever it is needed" around Bradford.

Both letters clearly state the advantages of a quality rail service and I do not need to add to this.

I would, however, comment on Graham Hoyle's letters of August 8 and 26:

1. The "70 per cent" is NOT self-generated by Mr Ramsden. This or a higher figure arises from surveys undertaken on behalf of Metro. The national figure of five per cent is not relevant to an urban area such as West Yorkshire.

2. We are not only talking about Leeds. Clive Barton refers to trains loaded with passengers going to Leeds and Bradford.

3. Mention is made of taxpayers' money supporting rail, but this is minimal compared with spending on motorways and other roads. Metro's rail plan includes many proposals to increase the percentage of rail commuters in West Yorkshire, many of which would have been implemented by now were it not for the former Conservative government's ill-conceived privatisation of British Rail, which, despite predictions to the contrary by the said party, led to a three or four-fold increase in cost and has delayed implementation of Metro's plans.

A J Sutcliffe, Hauxley Court, Ilkley.

SIR - I was appalled to read about the Council's decision to close Brenda Satterley's Cat Rescue centre in Allerton.

As a helper at the centre I know the excellent work done over the years. Thousands of abandoned cats have been cared for, given veterinary treatment and re-homed.

What business is it of the Council's how many cats are kept as long as they don't bother the neighbours - which, as they are kept indoors, they do not. The cats are kept in a spacious room and are fed and cleaned every day.

Bradford has one of the worst animal cruelty and neglect records in the country yet the idiots at the Council want to close down a much-needed refuge.

The Council does nothing for animal welfare. Stray dogs at the council kennels are put down after a week if they are not re-homed, yet the Council was prepared to spend a fortune trying to become the Capital of Culture.

The councillors who want to close down Cat Rescue obviously have no regard for animal welfare and should be ashamed of themselves. Hundreds of abandoned cats and kittens which have been abused, shot with air guns, starved and neglected, will suffer.

Scott Alden, Thornacre Crescent, Wrose.

SIR - During the last war, while soldiering in Egypt, I was disgusted to see men and women defecating and urinating in the street.

With the closure of public toilets in Bradford, could it happen here? Are we progressing backwards to the Middle Ages?

J Toothill, Ryefield Avenue, Clayton.

SIR - So the Howard Penal Reform Group are demanding lifelong prisoners should be put in special nursing homes when they reach 60!

Why not do away with punishment and put terrorists, killers and violent professional criminals in five-star hotels with a late-night key!

Alan Holdsworth, Chippendale Court, Menston.

SIR - What wonderful news about the planned medical centre on the Haworth car park.

Now we just need Bradford Council to offer Ted Evans a price for the Changegate car park. Then, as we say in Yorkshire, "job's a gud 'un!"

Laura Darnbrough, Oakbank Lane, Oakworth