Letters to the Editor

You say in your Court File column that income is taken into account. Are most of these people in the Court File poor? I don't think so when I see some of them driving flash cars.

It should not matter what income they receive, the fines for all these people should be the same. If they don't pay they should go to jail.

I am surviving on a pittance but I pay for everything, including council tax and prescriptions. So income should not come into this subject.

The same fine should be applied to all.

P Glennon, Craven Terrace, Eccleshill.

SIR - Bradford has established an Urban Regeneration Company to plan the development of the City Centre. It has also appointed Alsops to lead the "masterplanning" process. Neither of these very positive steps is going to be cheap but should be worthwhile and give us a single organised way forward.

However we now learn (through your pages) that Bradford Vision is worried that Alsops may be too ambitious in their ideas (May 22) and that the URC is not going to be responsible for planning in the city centre but the same amateurs and politicos who have given us the current state of affairs (May 21).

What is the point of bringing these highly-paid professional people in and then not letting them function? In general I fail to understand why we need Bradford Vision anymore. The URC should supercede it

This is another example of the lack of joined-up thinking from which this city suffers. Why am I not surprised?

William Oxley, Beck Lane, Bingley

SIR - The letter from L Webster about Lucas's involvement with Concorde (T&A, May 15) disregarded the engineering and manufacturing expertise built up during the Fifties and Sixties by the Aircraft Equipment Division of English Electric at Thornbury before it became part of Lucas and he arrived in the wages department.

The electrical equipment on the prototype Concorde at Yeovilton is clearly marked "Manufactured by the Aircraft Equipment Division of the English Electric Co Ltd Bradford."

The English Electric engineering and manufacturing team responsible remained at Thornbury after it became part of Lucas Aerospace until reorganisation in the late Seventies and early Eighties when actuators, which are geared motor units for missiles, moved to a new factory on Sticker Lane and generating systems moved to Hemel Hempstead.

Those employees who didn't move to either Sticker Lane or Hemel Hempstead were made redundant. Both Sticker Lane and Thornbury are now closed.

Post-war aircraft which had equipment designed and made at Thornbury included Belvedere, Canberra, Lightning, Vulcan, Victor, Nimrod, Jet Provost, Shackleton, Concordski (TU144), Tornado and Harrier.

No wonder that Lucas Aerospace, which is now owned by the Goodrich Corporation of America, saw it as a very attractive acquisition.

Kenneth H Chappell, South Edge, Shipley.

SIR - Tony Blair is often criticised for acting and talking like a president. Make no mistake about it, he thinks he can be one in the enlarged EU with its new centralising constitution.

This is why he pushes joining the euro, and finds reasons to visit the new applicants for admission to the EU. Most of them supported the Bush/Blair aggression against Iraq, standing with him against the French/German line involving the United Nations. Already he has the support of nearly half the members of the EU.

The other day, Chris Smith criticised Blair for his dictatorial actions over the Millennium Dome.

The committee, of which he was chairman, had serious doubts about the validity of the project.

Suddenly Blair stood up, walked outside and announced publicly the project would be proceeded with.

It is now called publicly Blair's Folly.

Robert Hornsby, Bredon Avenue, Shipley.

SIR - Mr Roberts, head teacher of Oakbank school says he is glad to be piloting the Tic Tac project (T&A, May 15).

Making contraceptives available to vulnerable children I don't believe is something to be proud of, especially without parental involvement.

Making them so readily accessible sends the wrong message. Surely everything should be done to discourage children from having sex.

I believe children/young people deserve better. They need to be made aware of the damage they are doing to themselves by having sex at an early age.

They need to be told the truth, not fed an illusion that sex at any age is fine as long as they use contraception. Sex should not be treated as a recreation, not trivialised.

Parents also should not be dismissed regarding the health and well-being of their children. If any help or advice is needed, the first port of call should be the parents, not some stranger from a Tic Tac project.

J M Bacon, Lyndhurst Grove, Allerton.

SIR - While I endorse most of David Jackson's comments (T&A May 19) regarding breast-care treatment in Bradford I feel I should offer some support to Mr Robert Phipps.

I am a former patient of Mr Phipps, undergoing a mastectomy and subsequent treatment three-and-a-half years ago.

I cannot speak too highly of Mr Phipps and his entire team. I owe them my life.

Furthermore I have not read any comments to the contrary in your paper from any of his former patients.

Good luck to you, Mr Phipps, in your future career, Bradford's loss is someone else's gain.

One final comment, Mr Jackson. I wish all departments of the Bradford Royal Infirmary offered the same standard of treatment as the breast care unit.

Elaine Neale, Sherbourne Road, Idle

SIR - I write in response to Donald Wright's letter of May 21. As a Wilsden Village Society member he seems curiously ill informed.

While I cannot comment on the merits or otherwise of the application to redevelop Wilsden Methodist Church I can make a few statements of fact regarding the application.

There is no question regarding the "possibility of the building being listed." It is already Grade II listed.

It is not a question of only two villagers objecting. A petition against the application has been submitted.

As a result of the petition the application will be considered by Shipley Planning Panel on June 19. Donald Wright is welcome to exercise his democratic right to attend this meeting as are the petitioners (letters to the T&A will not be taken into consideration).

The application is not as simple as might appear at first sight and Mr Wright may wish to read the application at Shipley Town Hall before attending.

Councillor Robert Owens (Conservative, Bingley), chairman of Shipley Planning Panel, City Hall, Bradford

SIR - One could hardly call it a saga but the ongoing discussions regarding Wilsden's old Methodist Church were going on long before I moved out of the village nearly five years ago.

I have always said that it would deliberately be left to crumble and decay causing consternation to nearby residents and forcing Bradford Council to accept just about any plan that the developer might want pushing through.

To the best of my knowledge the present owner of the building has not owned it for very long but he must have known that there were no parking facilities when he purchased it.

Perhaps he knew that if he waited long enough he would be able to purchase the land at the rear of the church.

If the piece of land in question is going to be sold might we assume that it will be put on the open market - thus realising the best possible price?

David Oyston, Rylands Avenue, Gilstead.

SIR - After many months of waiting, I have at last now had a walk-in shower installed. Up to now it has been a great hardship for me to bathe.

Will you please print this letter to express my gratitude to the many people who have campaigned on my behalf for this work to be done namely Mukhtar Ali, right, Olwen Vasey (T&A), the persons who offered help and also the many letters received from the public, some of which were printed, and the Bradford West City Community Housing Trust.

Margaret Harrison, Hendford Drive, Bradford.