Letters to the Editor

Sir, - With regard to the plea for 'some understanding' from the chief executive of Airedale NHS Trust (Ilkley Gazette, May 1).

I sympathise with Mr Allen and recognise that he will be under pressure to make savings. However, comparisons with the situation 30 years ago, when Government policy was to centralise health care in large hospitals, are not relevant today.

Current Government policy is to provide health services locally. The NHS document, 'A Proposal to Establish Airedale Primary Care Trust', clearly states, on page 3: "Services should be provided as close to home as possible" and "....services should be focused on the needs of patients, not the organisations that provide them."

Also, 'The NHS Plan' and 'Delivering the NHS Plan' both emphasise the importance of locally accessible services.

In any event it should be the Airedale Primary Care Trust taking the lead. Airedale PCT has recently been given substantial extra funding from the Government, as part of a £60m project across the Bradford district. The aim is to provide a wider range of health services, such as minor surgery and diagnostic treatment - including ultrasound scans - nearer to people's homes.

Airedale PCT is supposed to be producing a health plan for the district, including their proposals for how health services currently available in Ilkley are to be provided in future.

In view of the amount of Government money given to the PCT they should not be contemplating cutting services in Ilkley but should be considering enhancing them.

Kathy Best

73 Leeds Road,

Ilkley.

Poor driving

SIR, - 'Ilkley welcomes careful drivers' so the sign says. The reason seemingly being that there arent actually any in the town!

Having enjoyed a week's holiday in Ilkley, the one thing that irritated me was the poor quality of driving in this town. Never before have I seen such a poor understanding of the highway code.

The biggest offenders seem to be the 4x4drivers who believe that just because they have a bigger car, then they have the automatic right of way. It is clear that these people are not able to drive big cars and only have them as a show of wealth.

Whilst it can take up to five minutes to crawl along The Grove you then risk your life on the moor road by having the locals flying along it at 60 to 70mph.

Ilkley is a charming town but I urge those dangerous drivers to show a bit of consideration and caution.

Charles Colville

charlescolville@yahoo.co.uk

Curb on farmers

SIR, - As of May 1 farmers in this region are no longer able bury animals that die on their farms, instead being required by law to get them transported away for incineration or rendering.

The Government department responsible for implementing this change - DEFRA - has proposed a new scheme which requires farmers to pay a subscription for the future disposal of carcases. Such a proposal has received a mixed reaction, due to location, cost, and the speed at which collection can be arranged.

We can but hope that DEFRA has more luck with this proposal than it usually does when it comes to helping farmers.

On the published list of available outlets, DEFRA has acknowledged that the UK network of hunt kennels is an important part of this process - ironic given that the very same department is presiding over a hunting Bill that would put them out of business.

At present, hunts process nearly 400,000 fallen animals a year, and at a fraction of the real cost. UK hunts intend to continue to offer this service - Government permitting - as it is recognised as being quick, cheap, and above all, humane.

Details can be found by ringing 01285 831470 or logging on to www.mfha.co.uk http://www.mfha.co.uk

Sam Butler

Co-Chairman,

Council of Hunting Associations.

Trust in Leeds

SIR, - Leeds United Supporters Trust is one of the newest supporters' trusts in the country. Set up to strengthen the bonds between the club and the community which it serves, the trust aims to represent the interests of the community in the running of the club.

The Trust will do this by buying shares in the club and using the proxy votes of its shareholding members. One of its stated objectives is to have supporter representation on the football club's board.

You don't have to be a shareholder in the club to join the trust and membership is open to all who share our aims and objectives. Annual membership is just £10 and the trust works on the basis that each member has just one share in the trust and just one vote.

The trust is regulated by the Registrar of Friendly Societies and elects its officers annually at its AGM with properly audited accounts and a management structure agreed by its members. The Trust is a not for profit organisation.

Anyone interested in the joining the trust can find out more information on our web pages at http://www.lufctrust.org.uk or by writing to us c/o Social Enterprise Leeds, 127 Woodhouse Street, Leeds LS6 2PY. There is a downloadable membership application form on the website as well as a full copy of our rules.

I would encourage all those who want a say in how Leeds United is run to support the trust by joining it and taking part in its day to day work. Community groups and businesses are also encouraged to join us.

John Boocock

Co-chairman,

Leeds United Supporters' Trust,

www.lufctrust.org.uk

Motorists' misery

SIR, - I am writing about the self-inflicted traffic congestion which seems to be occurring more frequently in Ilkley.

There is a vociferous minority in Ilkley who seem bent on making the motorist's life a misery but what they do not seem to understand is that it is self-defeating to cause congestion with their so-called traffic calming measures as standing cars create more pollution.

I am no lover of the car but feel that the residents of the town have to be practical as it and the surrounding area is now just a dormitory town for Leeds and Bradford.

Local residents have written in to the Ilkley Gazette on how they want more traffic calming measures and a speed limit of 30mph or less but to be honest it would occasionally be nice to actually reach this speed.

These self-same residents also complain loudly if people rat-run along Wheatley Lane and Bolling Road but what do they expect if the main road through the town is one long traffic queue.

I also do not consider it progress to have to start queuing halfway up Addingham bypass to get into Ilkley on a morning and to have to queue from where the Wharfedale pub used to be on an evening, particularly as these queues could be avoided/alleviated if some thought was given to a better traffic management system in the town.

By all means stop rat-running but first make the A65 passable and reset the timing on the traffic lights to ensure a smooth flow of traffic.

PAUL DENTON

6 Stamp Hill Close,

Addingham.

House price rises

SIR, - According to figures provided by HM Land Registry, the average price of a home in LS29 is now £203,000. The annual rate of increase in the year to March, 2003, was 20 per cent and continues to be above the national rate of house price inflation.

Part of the reason for the overall increase in sale prices may well have been a fall in supply, as the total of home sales registered fell by 36 to 640 homes over a year in which the volume of house sales in the whole district rose by a third.

By far the greatest price increase over the past year has been in the category of flats and maisonettes where the number of sales registered has fallen by ten per cent over the year. The average price in this wide category has risen from £97K a year ago to £183K in the March quarter of this year.

Much of the increase may be due to properties with a higher specification being brought on to the market. Nevertheless, such a large price growth suggests that there is a chronic shortage of flats and maisonettes for sale in LS29.

The second fastest growing price category is semi-detached homes, where average prices rose by 32 per cent. Market values for this type vary between £195K in the combined Middleton/Addingham area and £104K in Menston.

The number of detached homes sold fell by 44 to 168 overall in the year to March, despite more modest increase in the average detached price for the area to £311K.

Between the areas, the average prices of homes in the west part of LS29 continues to inflate ahead of the rest of the Wharfe Valley, with increases of 30 per cent in the Middleton/Addingham area and 24 per cent in the west of Ilkley.

Most of these prices are well out of the reach of most families starting on the 'house price ladder', even for quite small properties. That may have a profound effect on the future numbers of primary school children living in the most expensive parts of our area.

Andrew Dundas

2 Pines Cottages,

Parish Ghyll Drive,

Ilkley.

Iraqis' rights

SIR, - Iraq is a post-conflict society. traumatised not only by the immediate horrors of war but by its history.

It is therefore neither 'jaundiced', nor 'anti-American' (as suggested in the letters columns of May 8), to express concern for its future in terms of peace and continued stability whilst reconstruction remains in the hands of those who continue to misunderstand its culture, ethnic and religious divisions, but who place at the forefront of any 'new' Iraq their own pre-conditions for peace.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of war, no-one sought to endorse the continuation of Saddam Hussein's regime, nor should the gross violations of human rights, which it inflicted on a captive population for so many years, be forgotten.

Yet peace is not, nor will it ever be, the lasting legacy of 'liberation' if we do not begin to forgive Iraq its past and allow it the space and time in which to construct a future of its own design. The role of the international community, and not just America, should be one only of support, unbiased and devoid of self-interest. Peace building in Iraq can only begin through the involvement of the people of Iraq; the creation of community through ownership leads to empowerment and sense of shared identity.

All of this and more belongs to the people of Iraq. They have earned it, it is their right and we must now allow them the freedom to be, without constantly seeking to rebuild their country in our own image.

CLARE SOMMERVILLE

21 Brook Street,

Ilkley.

'Tunnel decision is incredible'

SIR, - I would like to add my voice to the protests about the use of the train horns in the location of the Bradford Road 'tunnel' near Menston Station.

I find it incredible that Metro Trains can make a unilateral decision to declare this road bridge a tunnel and therefore make it necessary for trains to sound the horn on approach.

Metro Trains is NOT British Railways. It is a local amenity, funded in the main by local community charge payers and whose customers are local people. I could not imagine any normal company surviving in the real world, antagonising its sponsors and customers in such a cavalier way.

When there was concern about noise from late night flying from the airport we had a public inquiry but Metro Trains can just please themselves.

We do in fact have local councillors sitting on the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. I would have thought that they might represent local opinion a little more vigorously.

Mike Ripley

76 Brooklands Lane,

Menston.