Letters to the Editor

Is it an area where people are deprived of sufficient social security benefit, income support, child allowance, rate relief or other benefits like free health care, dental care, etc?

Maybe it's an area where industry is deprived of grants for improvement and development in order to create employment.

Or is it an area like the one we lived in the 1930s and 1940s when none of these benefits were available? Where ambition, a spirit of get-up-and-go and a sense of pride in our community were all we had to rely on to drag ourselves up to a better standard of living.

A Sigley, Bronshill Grove, Allerton.

SIR - Regarding the positive message about the city by Councillor Andrew Smith (Letters, August 19). Is this another case of pie in the sky in the hope that the ratepayers of Bradford will believe him? Hasn't anyone on Bradford Council ever heard of throwing good money after bad? Looking back on the Transperience and Faith museum fiasco I thought they would have learned their lessons, but obviously not.

Lister's Mill should be pulled down and forgotten about because at the end of the day it will cost the ratepayers a small fortune. It may provide jobs initially, but when it all goes pear-shaped due to whatever circumstances it will be brushed under the carpet like all the other Council white elephants leaving the residents of Bradford up to their necks in debt!

Why not do something positive about the run down area near to Lister's, because it certainly needs a facelift.

Does Councillor Smith really believe that people with the means would actually buy a flat with an outlook onto a depressed area and Fort Knox (the police station). I certainly wouldn't!

Trevor Williams-Berry, Bredon Avenue, Wrose

SIR - I am somewhat surprised at the consternation displayed by your correspondent J Hoyes (T&A, August 15) in connection with the proposed children's home in the Aire Valley.

The location in question is a brownfield site, therefore has intrinsic merit and is, at least, deserving of consideration.

Mention is made of a report by Social Services, the quoted section of which I find curious. True, the site has no nearby amenities but it is on a bus route and is certainly not isolated (not long ago Bradford Council permitted the desecration of a large tract of green-belt land in allowing a development of 400 plus houses not 30 metres away).

As for the Council not consulting the people of East Morton on the subject, why would the Council do this? The site of the proposed home is not in East Morton. A road sign adjacent to the site indicates that the village proper is three-quarters of a mile away and the village boundary is clearly marked a third of a mile away.

D C Wilding, Street Lane, East Morton.

SIR - I was walking down Westgate the other day and counted the number of amusement arcades along Westgate and Godwin Street. There are six plus three discount shops.

This area of the city centre is dominated by these outlets and it does create a run-down and cheap and tacky image of Bradford.

Lingards old department store is now an amusement arcade. What a waste of a beautiful old building.

I feel that this area needs to be given a new lease of life, as an upmarket restaurant and bar area perhaps, which would add a touch of quality and prestige to the city-centre wining and dining scene.

A new gay bar and nightclub have recently opened on Sackville Street and Fulton Street, so why not extend and develop that little area?

The Urban Regeneration Company could get involved in cleaning up and redeveloping this shabby part of the city.

Jack MacPherson, Killinghall Road, Bradford 3.

SIR - I was pleased to read in the T&A that the police are "booking" motorists who use the bus lanes. This will give the grass chance to grow again on these infrequently-used sections of the highway which are alongside the even less-used cycle lanes.

However, there will be the danger that the extra exhaust fumes from the slow stop-and-start of the cars in the existing lane will tend to stunt the growth of the grass.

Peter A Rushworth, Sutton Drive, Cullingworth.

SIR - It is to be welcomed that the Broadway Development is now nearer fruition (T&A August 16). However it is disappointing that no provision has been made to protect a rail corridor between Bradford Interchange and Forster Square, so that a cross-city rail link could be built in the future.

Should the Broadway plans proceed without modification, then Bradford's branch line status will be confirmed for generations!

Your comment on August 1 acknowledged that had Bradford a through line, it could not be so easily disregarded from service enhancements in the Trans-Pennine Corridor.

Very simply, the Broadway scheme on its own will not regenerate Bradford, but can be accommodated with a cross-rail scheme, which would have a shopper's platform.

This would improve Bradford's transport links and encourage businesses to relocate here.

Alec Suchi (Secretary, Bradford Rail Users Action Group), Westgate, Bradford.

SIR - I fail to understand the problem of Bradford schoolchildren whose home language is not English and thus have a weak grasp of it.

Bradford's newsagents, particularly supermarkets, are brimming with children's and teen magazines to purchase. Indeed, when I was at school (not so long ago!) my secondary school library stocked Just 17; I particularly enjoyed the very frank problem pages!

Encouraging children to read for pleasure in their leisure time will strengthen their language skills in the classroom. It's not all sober Bronte novels.

J C Taylor, Park Hill Drive, Bradford 8.

SIR - May I thank the people of Menston for their wonderfully generous response to the annual house-to-house collection for arthritis research. My woefully small, but heroically loyal band of collectors plodded through the village throughout the month of July and between us we raised £828.71, all of which is funnelled through to research programmes into the many and varied forms of arthritis disease.

Anyone wanting further information about the work of the Arthritis Research Campaign, please contact me at any time on 01943 872067.

Miss E M Holbrook (Bradford branch secretary), Bradford Road, Menston.

SIR - Having read the T&A report (August 18) about the Eccleshill vicar who uses adverts to tempt people to his church, I am both amused and also very sad as it's a poor reflection of the times we live in that the church has to resort to such strange methods to get the Christian message across.

It is a splendid idea nonetheless. After all the Bible is the biggest advert of the lot!

R Halliday, Crag Road, Shipley.

SIR - I recently took three of my grandchildren out for a treat.

First we went to the Glen Tramway, only to be told it only operated two days a week, run by voluntary workers. Next we called at the shop at the railway only to be told it had been burgled twice last week and many more times in recent months.

Everywhere was overgrown and unkempt. The fairground was dreadful, with one young man running most rides single-handed. The once-nice paddling pool was dried up mud.

Next encounter: The public toilets on the edge of the Glen. Three toilets were smashed up, two left with an appalling smell and no paper. Goodness knows when they were cleaned last.

I used to visit the Glen with my late father most weekends with pride and joy when I was about five. Now I'm 61. Surely the whole area could be sold to builders before the vandals finish it off, and they could build prestigious homes on the site.

I will not be visiting the Glen again; just sticking to past happy memories.

C M Taylor, Fairbank Terrace, Girlington.