Letters to the Editor

I was wondering if you would be so kind as to alert people to the plight of the MS Centre in Rawdon, Leeds (telephone 01132 504528) which is struggling and relies solely on donations (no help is given from the Government).

It would really help if donations could be given or events done to raise donations.

The staff there are wonderful. They do their level best to raise funds, but they are desperate. Please help if you can.

Liz Wood, Highfield Road, Idle.

SIR - Over the last few months I have read letters and stories in the T&A, singing the praises of regeneration in the Ravenscliffe area. This is all well and good as long as those doing it follow up with aftercare.

The area I love in was built three years ago with no back-up whatsoever. Some properties are still awaiting defect repairs that should have been done in the first year.

In 2000 I asked why there was no plaster on any walls in my house. Up to date I still have no reply. In July last year I got one of the inspectors down to look at problems with the properties, ie poor land drains, no top soil, no fence to front of properties.

He said to leave it with him and he would get back. I even tried on several occasions to contact him by phone, and leaving messages. Still no reply.

We pay £1.84 a week service charge. This is for grass cutting and a caretaker to keep the area clean.

The grass cutters come when they like, the caretaker only when a house needs cleaning out.

The estate is now looking rundown and nobody cares.

P Poole, Osterley Grove, Greengates, Bradford 10

Veronica Carrapiett, North British Housing Association's area manager replies: "I'm somewhat surprised by Mr Poole's letter. The Greengates estate is very popular and has in fact a long waiting list of people wanting to move there.

"We've no record of any properties having outstanding defects, but if anyone has any problems then I would ask them to contact their local office to report these.

"The scheme was built using sustainable timber frames, with the walls being dry lined using plaster board. This means that we do not plaster the walls, but we do skim the joints between the plaster boards to ensure a smooth finish, which can be immediately decorated.

"The soil at Greengates is clay based, which means it easily retains water. Last year we did have a problem with drainage, but NBH was quick to respond and installed land drains to the affected areas. Again, we have no reported problems with top soil.

"The landscaping team was due on site on May 3 and they visit the scheme every fortnight to carry out grass cutting and general gardening of the communal areas. The scheme was designed to be open plan, although some residents have chosen to have small garden fences.

"We always aim to provide a professional service, which meets the high standards set not only by ourselves, but by our tenants, who are formally involved in our services delivery

SIR - On April 29 you suggested that Crossflatts Village Society is calling for cycle lanes and wider pavements through Bingley on the old A650. This is incorrect. It is Green Party policy and as a prospective parliamentary candidate I am advocating that policy locally. Members of the Village Society may well hold contrary opinions.

On the matter itself, it does seem strange that for a fraction of the £50m that the Highways Agency is spending on the new road they seem reluctant to provide safer and easier access for cyclists and pedestrians wanting a direct route.

Quentin Deakin (Green Party prospective Parliamentary candidate for Shipley), Newark Road, Crossflatts

SIR - A report by Ian Manley in the T&A of April 17 along with your own Comment highlights the growing interest in the necessary improvement in rail travel around this area with the consequent easier access to places further afield.

Locally the disused line from Low Moor through Cleckheaton to the southern areas would remedy the fact that rail travellers out of both station have initially to go either east or west! The south route was closed by Beeching years ago; and thus adds to the time spent on getting to southern England as, at present, travel is through Leeds or Manchester.

The interest shown by the Countryside Agency in, among other things, the cross-Bradford link is evidence that this project should be receiving an appropriate response from the Bradford Council such as making an available route on the plans for the city centre development now, and making it public.

I understand that the heavy freight industry has expressed interest in the route through Bradford to relieve pressure at Leeds. Such a link would facilitate commuting between north and south Bradford - extending from Airedale and Wharfedale to Low Moor, Kirklees and Calderdale.

Walter Metcalfe, Central Avenue, Shipley

SIR - We must all be very grateful for the continuing excellent progress taking place in Iraq. The coalition forces have done a superb job of ridding the world of a rogue regime.

Slight disagreement and tragedies will take place in the process of achieving democracy and my heart goes out with sympathy to them.

Where hundreds of thousands of people are involved in a venture as big as freeing a repressed nation it is only logical that there will be a difference of opinion with the liberators and the liberated.

The Iraqi people will have to be very patient. The more patient and tolerant they are the quicker they will enjoy their gift of freedom.

The people who were against the corrective action against Iraq a few weeks ago and who said the prime reason for the coalition forces going in was solely for the oil reserves will be proved wrong.

If the coalition forces do take any oil it will be fair and part of the price for freedom. After all, the subterranean lakes of oil beneath Iraq contain thousands of millions of barrels so there is plenty for everybody.

Derek Wright, Westbury Street, Bradford 4.

SIR - Mike Priestley's defence (April 28) of pop's sundry absurdities like Joe Dolce, Clive Dunn and Rolf Harris preventing wondrous records making No 1, is surprising coming from somebody who revels in the early rock 'n' roll classics of his youth.

He intimates that the buyers of such tat should surely not be labelled "tasteless buffoons," and I agree the second of those words is a bit strong.

There have always been records aimed at the lowest common denominator of taste (like TV programmes too), and from time to time large sectors of the public fall for the superficial novelty value. Actually it doesn't really matter that these artists of little consequence had their brief flurry with pop fame because they don't rate a word in the annals of pop history.

Indeed, these "performers" will actually benefit from being maligned in a society that often celebrates the artless.

My main regret is the fact that for every comic No 1 we have a thousand talented bands or artists performing anonymously in smoke-filled bars up and down the country.

By all means celebrate the subjectivity of taste, but spare a thought for those with real talent, who are never likely to get airplay.

P J Hunter, Herbert Street, Saltaire.

Mike Priestley writes: There was room alongside the early rock'n'roll classics of my youth for such "absurdities" as Sheb Woolley's Purple People Eater and Bobby Darin's Splish Splash (which was also recorded by Charlie Drake). We didn't sneer at them. We enjoyed them as well as the serious stuff."