Letters to the Editor

In February 2002 the Council agreed to the principle of bringing back to Bradford 40 children, requiring the acquisition of five new children's homes.

Places in private homes throughout the country are expensive so there would be great financial saving. Some of the money saved would be re-invested into children's services, but there would be an overall saving to the Council taxpayers of more than £4million over the first three years.

I'm happy to supply any Thornton resident with a copy of the 23-page Council report which outlines the costs.

It can also be found on the Council's website (document DU of the Executive Committee of February 26, 2002).

The nearest secure unit is in Leeds, so no secure unit is needed in Bradford.

Councillor Clive Richardson (Thornton Ward), City Hall.

SIR - On June 10 I went to observe democracy first hand - the sitting of the Council's Executive Committee. I was one of many Thornton residents objecting to the proposed development of a children's home at Sowden House in Thornton.

The exhaustive consultation process with local residents had taken place just two weeks previously when only 100 residents, deemed by Social Services to be the homes most affected by the home, were informed of the Council's intention by letter. We were not told the Council would sit and decide so quickly.

Thornton Ward Councillor Valerie Binney did not know until June 9, incredible especially as she is deputy chairman of the Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Social Care and Housing. She in fact attended the meeting and asked for the proposal to be rejected.

Simon Blakeley, representing Thornton residents, was allowed to speak for five minutes at the meeting about residents' fears and the unsuitability of both the building and the lack of amenities, health provision, and police presence in the area. He handed in a 500-name petition signed by local residents against the development.

Alison O'Sullivan, Director of Social Services, stated clearly at the meeting that it was the responsibility of Social Services to consider the safety of the children in care, not the children from the local community, when making such a decision.

Councillors David Green and Ian Greenwood both gave passionate and sensible argument and criticised the information given to both local residents and the Executive. They asked for a delay in the decision to enable the committee to visit the proposed site to see the inadequacies and unsuitability of the building.

Unfortunately the sensible debate dissolved into political sniping and a point-scoring exercise. Thornton residents were portrayed as 'Nimbies' with no social conscience and the motion was passed.

So much for democracy.

Karen Johnson, Harcourt Avenue, Thornton.

SIR - Once again the wishes of the people of Thornton have been ignored by their elected representatives, whose arrogance in the matter of Sowden House will come as little surprise to many.

At the recent Council meetings Councillor Valerie Binney stated she was unaware of what the Council was proposing at Sowden House. Could it be she has been kept as much in the dark in this matter as we residents?

Thornton has poor facilities for the young as it is. Remember, this is the Council which closed our swimming baths and already our basic services are at a minimum.

Now the elections are over and the voters of Thornton/Allerton ward can see exactly what the Conservative definition of democracy is: You've elected us, so we'll do what we want.

Our councillors have one last chance to redeem themselves, though.

If they break the habit of a lifetime and decide, instead, to challenge this decision when it comes before the Scrutiny committee, they may well earn themselves a reprieve, albeit temporarily.

Melanie Milnes, Thornton Road, Thornton.

SIR - It is surely ironic that while the Bush administration puts out lurid warnings concerning the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea, America is the only nation which has ever actually used them and is abnormally silent when it comes to Israel's nuclear arsenal.

Officially, Israel doesn't possess nuclear weapons and is, therefore, not compelled to allow inspectors around its Dimona site. In reality, it has one of the most advanced nuclear and missile launch capabilities on the planet.

Malcolm Wilsher Muhammed, Leeds Road, Bradford 3

SIR - Re Mike Priestley's North of Watford item of May 31 about a Scottish charity which had paid £5.2 million of its £8.8 million income to a commercial fundraiser. The situation is rather different with us.

The RSPCA receives no state funding and all branches are autonomous units which must raise their own funds for animal welfare work.

The Bradford branch's five charity shops could not function without the volunteers who support the paid staff. The volunteers do not even receive expenses but are happy to give many hours of their own time to help animals.

We also have a dedicated team of fundraisers which organises events such as our open and fun days, totally without pay. The dog walkers who help at the animal home go out in all weathers to give our dogs the exercise they need and do not even claim expenses for the journey they have to make to and from the centre.

Many of the salaried staff work a significant amount of extra hours and do not expect any type of overtime payment.

So, while Mike Priestley says he expects these days that charities have to pay professional fundraisers, this is certainly not the case with the RSPCA in Bradford.

Dorothy Woolf, General Manager, RSPCA Bradford & District Branch, Mount Street, Bradford

SIR - Peter Wilson (Letters, June 10) says I have shot myself in the foot by saying that Britain is the greatest nation the world has ever seen and that the Germans are arrogant. He can add to that the Belgians and the French.

This month is the anniversary of the time when I and thousands of servicemen went over to France to chase the Germans back there they came from.

Now the Germans and the French have formed a pact and via Belgium are now trying to tell us what we can and cannot do.

If that is not arrogance, I don't know what is.

I am a patriot, but to the "bleeding hearts" patriotism is a dirty word and is being confused with racism. They are two different things.

Britain is still the greatest nation on earth and should keep out of Europe altogether.

N Brown, Peterborough Place, Undercliffe.

SIR - I do apologise for dredging up the war on Iraq but I was reminded of it by a 15-year-old schoolgirl sitting on a wall after she had called me a "Paki" as I walked past her and her friends with my two-year-old daughter.

She went on to say she would have shot me if she had seen me in Iraq and furthermore, her cousin claimed to have shot "Pakis" in Iraq.

Blair and Bush are so busy "liberating Pakis" in Iraq, who is going to liberate "Pakis" in Britain and America from racist scum?

I would also like to know what proof I will have that if weapons of mass destruction are found in Iraq they are not planted there by fascists who went out there merely to "shoot Pakis".

Saeeda Naz, Elwyn Road, Bradford 5

SIR - The people of the UK are not kept informed on what is happening and being done in Brussels.

Neil Kinnock, vice-president of the European Commission, said in an interview with the Austrian daily Der Standard. "The citizens do not know that there is a secret governing system in Europe, that is the council with its system of committees. We have 300 formations in which member states meet and pass decisions. That is the largest source of bureaucracy and the black hole in European democracy."

A Swedish political scientist, Professor Torhjorn Larsson, published a study revealing the existence of 1,352 different groups in and around the Commission which he describes as "rather lacking in overview".

The Government has never brought this to the attention of the UK.

Can I ask our Labour MPs and MEP for an answer please?

A Clarke, Calverley Bridge, Rodley, Leeds.