SIR - I am writing in reply to David Hobbins' letter (August 25). My husband works for Morrisons at the distribution centre in Wakefield and I can assure Mr Hobbins that he does not get paid a "borderline minimum wage". He also benefits from profit share, pension plan etc.

Morrisons employs thousands of staff from the Bradford area all of whom get paid a lot more than various other firms in Bradford.

As for Sir Ken ruining an area of beauty, he is more than welcome to build on any field at Allerton. Then perhaps we all wouldn't have to see burnt out cars, rubbish and yobs on motorbikes tearing round our areas of beauty!

Bradford needs to attract business of all varieties and Sir Ken doesn't have to build offices in Bradford. In fact he could just relocate to Wakefield.

I suppose then the areas of beauty would be left alone and Bradford would be further impoverished and depressed!

Mrs Dawn Overton, Ormonde Drive, Allerton.

SIR - Having lived in Rawdon for over ten years, I am delighted at the opportunity to have a new school.

Rawdon Littlemoor School has been waiting for promised new buildings many years. I think the proposals for the A65 site are wonderful. A lot of work has been put into the project by a great many people. It would be a great shame for this opportunity to be lost, mostly on the grounds of increased traffic.

Traffic is a nationwide problem but should not hinder progress.

Rawdon could get a state-of-the-art school and also good quality sports facilities on a site that could otherwise be sold and have hundreds of houses built on it.

It may be current policy not to sell playing fields for development but that is current policy, not guaranteed future policy.

The people of Rawdon should be proud to have this opportunity.

If we don't say yes we are denying a great future for the people of our village.

Colin Nuttall, Canada Road, Rawdon.

SIR - Mr Simpson's suggestion (T&A, August 21) regarding the Trans-Pennine franchise would require the reinstating of the Bradford guiding line between Laisterdyke and Bowling Junction, so that trains would by-pass Bradford when travelling between Leeds and Manchester.

An additional station at Low Moor, at the junction of a reopened Spen Valley line and the existing Calderdale line, would be welcomed, especially if it had the status of Shipley Station.

But this must not be permitted at the expense of a city centre station.

Furthermore, Mr Simpson's suggestion would not benefit Bradford in the slightest as the city's omission would confirm its isolation from the main network.

Alec Suchi (secretary of Bradford Road Users' Group), Westgate, Bradford 1.

SIR - Iain Morris (August 22), in praising Bradford's rail links, seems to be aiming his comments at those campaigning for improvements.

Bradford does have some good links, particularly to Leeds, on what is left of its local rail system, but there is no link between the north and south of the city, eg Laisterdyke to Saltaire, or Low Moor to Baildon.

Granted, this would require the re-opening of Laisterdyke and Low Moor stations (the latter is planned) with or without the cross-city link. The point is, Bradford's rail links along with those of West Yorkshire as a whole are nowadays centred on Leeds, which is not at the geographical centre of the local rail system.

In the 1960s Bradford lost its rail links to Huddersfield (recently restored but slower than the original!), Harrogate and Otley, Wakefield, Dewsbury and Batley, Pudsey (proper), the Spen Valley towns and Mirfield etc.

It is important that some of these links are restored. People in towns that lost their rail links to Bradford, such as Otley and Cleckheaton, now find it no more difficult to go to Leeds shopping as to Bradford.

Coupled with these, the cross-city link would underpin Bradford's position in a better-balanced local rail system.

Michael Ramsden, Bath Road, Cleckheaton.

SIR - It is lovely to read Mike Coatesworth's stories in the T&A. I look forward to Thursday to read what he has written about when he was a lad.

I am 79, a bit older than him. I remember sausage dripping and this week was able to buy some pork dripping from Shipley inside market which I enjoyed on bread with salt and pepper.

We didn't have what the young ones have today, but they were happy days.

Mrs Muriel Edmondson, Springwood Avenue, Shipley.

SIR - After witnessing the mess that our elected representatives have made of the NHS, the education system, the "asylum seekers" and many other things, is it not time that they were instructed in the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

Matthew Hall, Lynmoor Court, Idle.

SIR - We inherited poor-quality council buildings, be they libraries, sports venues, community halls or staff accommodation. To upgrade all these to modern efficient standards will cost well in excess of £100 million, not to mention the extra cost of managing poor quality buildings.

Therefore, we have to look at innovative ways to deliver modern well-managed buildings within a reasonable timescale. This means thinking "out of the box" and in a businesslike way.

It is no surprise that the trade unions and the Labour Party are against this.

The Labour Party's view is if we haven't got the money, leave the buildings as they are, or raise the money through council taxes.

As for the trade unions, do they want the Council's staff to continue to suffer bad working conditions?

We are looking at all the alternatives with the policy goal of modern buildings within a reasonable timescale at the least cost to the council tax payers.

Councillor Andrew Smith (Con, Queensbury), Chapel Street, Queensbury.

SIR - J Hargreaves (Letters, August 23) obviously didn't have to suffer the interminable Lib-Dem leafleting and campaigning in Heckmondwike. I personally feel that the only reason the BNP won was because of the Lib-Dem campaign which was extremely patronising and at times took the line that if you didn't vote Lib-Dem you were racist.

I never vote because I view the political process as being corrupt and all politicians as self-serving but given the election literature I received, had I voted I would have done so in a manner designed to annoy the Lib-Dems.

How many BNP votes were really protests against the corruption of politics rather than votes for the BNP?

David Simpson, Hirst Avenue, Heckmondwike.

SIR - I am replying to Mr Evans about clamping in Haworth. He said (T&A, August 23) that he does not clamp unless parkers overstay by at least 20 minutes.

I was clamped on August 3, 2002, for a 14-minute overstay. I have a receipt (No 3624) to prove it so can I have my money back, Mr Evans?

John Dowson, Haycliffe Lane, Bradford 5.