Letters to the Editor

SIR, - The last thing the residents of Gay Lane need is a supermarket entrance. I reiterate: we do not need another supermarket, we need houses and flats, no more greenfield sites.

Gay Lane is part of the main road to Leeds, also East Chevin Road (the old Turnpike Leeds Road) is now Tarmacadamed (it was not when we came to live here 56 years ago) and is now the main road joining Gay Lane from Aireborough into Otley.

The new Cambridges and the school were built with very poor access into Gay Lane and in Leeds Road, used by hundreds of cars each week.

Also what about the people living in the affordable houses in Gay Lane? Our councillors talk a lot about affordable houses.

In 1945 the new Socialist Government brought in a grant for a new house for every cottage demolished so we have hoardings and parking at the bottom of Leeds Road and tankers where there were cottages. If we had a grant for a new house and no demolition would we have a housing problem today?

Mrs F Lofthouse

4 Forest Gate,

East Chevin Road,

Otley.

Decisions clear

SIR, - I wish to respond to a letter from Neil Hunt printed by your paper on April 17.

I am appalled at the clumsy attempt by Mr Hunt to accuse me and, by implication, your paper of misleading the people of Horsforth. Mr Hunt is NOT a resident of Horsforth and should stop pretending he is! Using his correct address would be a good start.

In February Leeds City Council, whilst agreeing the budget, voted to spend £636,000 on the Horsforth Library/Mechanics project to be spent over two years. I and my colleagues, Chris Townsley and Andy Barker, waited until the delegated decisions to release the capital were made before giving permission to your paper to run the good news story.

In the past weeks £229,000 has been released, so that work can begin. The decisions, signed by the Chief Financial Officer, are very clear as to the use of this money: the building of a new Library attached to the Mechanics but behind it.

No Conservative Councillors have been involved in the project. When Horsforth Councillors agreed to put some money in, it was simply rubber stamped by Cookridge councillors as we do when they spend their budget.

John Brodwell has represented Horsforth Town Council and Chief Supt Francis Habgood, the then Divisional Commander, has represented the police interests at our meetings. I believe they both out rank even Mr Hunt's inflated ego!

Brian Cleasby

11 Carr Lane,

Rawdon.

Goalposts move

SIR, - As Leeds prepares to introduce the trial technology for congestion charging, I read with interest that Derek Turner, the head of congestion charging at Transport for London, is to create a consultancy firm to advise other local authorities on how to implement the scheme.

A full assessment of this scheme will take years, not weeks, and the catastrophic warning signs are already evident. Since the launch in February 2003, traffic levels continue to rise in residential areas outside the zone, journey times have lengthened and the goalposts are continually changed with revoked exemptions such as taxi drivers to the charge, and the charging zone extended.

Furthermore, the money expected to be generated for public transport improvements has dropped by another £30m to £100m- a 50 per cent drop from the original prediction of £200m.

If Mr Turner visits Leeds, as I'm sure he will in the near future, I should hope that the Labour controlling group of Leeds City Council will ensure that Leeds motorists, who will soon have to pay this unjustified and penal tax will be presented with the very real facts of this congestion charging scheme.

Coun Les Carter

Cookridge Ward

Civic Hall

Leeds.

Traffic issue

SIR, - Your report on the suggested congestion charges for Leeds merely confirms that Mr Krauze has come to us advising how to manage our traffic problem in Leeds.

We all agree with him that 'something' needs to be done regarding our traffic issues before it gets anything like in the City of London. However we will remain very reluctant to appoint Mr Ken Livingston or Mr Krauze as our adviser.

We need to have a serious look with comprehensive traffic studies and adopt appropriate measures long before thinking of congestion charges. I would like to suggest that the developers need to hold a realistic policy, which is proven and sustainable at least for the next ten years.

I see Mr Krauze's main concern should lie within the campus of the new development and discuss matters of other concern with the local councillors.

Coun Dr Makhan Thakur

Aireborough Ward (Con),

Majenta Farm Mall Lane,

West Carlton,

Leeds, LS20 9PE.

Lorry row rumbles

SIR, - I am compelled to reply to Mr Heffer's comments (April 24) with regard to the increasing problem that Otley residents are facing concerning heavy lorries passing through our town.

Perhaps Leeds City Council should do away with pedestrian crossings and rely on the traffic to stop and allow us to cross the road safely. I have never heard of anything so ridiculous.

You want to wake up, Mr Heffer. I noticed that you managed to comment on every other type of driver on our town's roads. Well, you managed to miss one.

How about 'silly old fools' who drive along at 20mph in a 40mph zone, who don't indicate and don't even look when pulling out of junctions?

Two categories you decribe are 'hooray henrys' and 'young mothers transporting lazy children'. These are all people who live in our town and our society. Parents don't feel that it is safe to allow their children to walk to school, especially with the added worry of these huge noisy trucks hammering up and down our roads.

There are reports every week in the papers that an elderly woman has been mugged, or that youngsters have had their mobile phone or fish and chips stolen from them. No wonder that parents choose to take their children to places via cars.

I hardly think that the buses would be any safer and I am sure you would not want them clogged up with kids and hooray henry mothers.

This is no longer a safe society that we live in. So, lighten up, Mr Heffer. I see 20 trucks per hour passing my front door. This goes on from 5am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.

Our children dice with death whilst crossing the road. So how can you, after attacking half the population of Otley (apart from the elderly, of course) agree with having these terrible trucks which bring nothing but noise, danger and pollution to our town?

C GORMAN

2 Carr Bank,

Otley.

Tribute to Derek

SIR, - You have recently reported on Derek Emsley who, despite a terminal cancer, has recently competed in the London Marathon and Three Peaks Fell Race.

The taciturn Englishman is epitomised by his disdain of expressions of emotion until obituaries may safely be written; which is, of course, too late for the subject.

However I would be grateful if you would allow me to place on record the awe felt by all those at Skyrac AC who have the pleasure of training with and competing against Derek.

To some degree all athletes are hypochondriacs but since the severity of Derek's illness has became known, clubhouse ailments have disappeared to be replaced by unreserved admiration for a man who, whatever the final outcome, will remain an inspiration to everyone at Skyrac AC who has had the privilege of knowing him and, perhaps, also to others who only know him through the pages of your newspaper.

Graham Breeze

Chairman,

Skyrac AC,

Uplands,

Odda Lane,

Hawksworth.

Calling all pupils

SIR, - Calling all ex-Prince Henry's pupils from the mid 80's. It's getting to nearly 20 years since we left.

We are have a planned reunion for all those who left PHGS in 1983, 1984, 1985. This is planned for August 2, 2003 in Otley.

I know a number of you may have contacted Jonathon Tenniswood already via email. If you are interested in coming to the reunion. You can drop me a line via the contacts.

Like myself, they may have left the Otley area but still have contact with parents or grandparents in the area. So if you're a parent or grandparent of a Prince Henry's pupil who left during these years, feel free to get in touch or pass on this information on.

We would like to see as many faces as possible. I went on school trips to Andorra in 1981 and West Germany in 1982. So I would like to contact anyone else who did as well.

Ian Bareham

10 Cullingford Road,

Ipswich,

Suffolk.

i.bareham@ntlworld.com

Iraq atrocities

SIR, - Stop press for our anti-war friends. A report that Saddam ordered thousands of Iraqi civilians to be executed and either buried alive or shot into mass graves was confirmed by the BBC outside the northern city of Kirkut.

Initially, 2,000 were found but it seems there are more to come. It won't matter to people if we don't discover weapons of mass destruction or if the place is swimming in oil, or who owns it. The atrocities will speak for themselves.

Let the anti-war people start protesting about these latest reports and be thankful Saddam has been kicked out. give me the big bad US and UK any day.

F Dickinson (Mr)

Larkfield Road,

Rawdon..

Rotary thanks

SIR, - The Rotary Club of Otley Chevin would like to thank Dr Simon Robinson and Dr Pauline Spencer from Westgate Surgery and nurses Margaret Liptrott and Ruth Milne for all their help during Stroke awareness day.

Also thanks go to Safeway supermarkets for allowing use of their premises on April 5.

John Mann

Chairman,

Vocational and

Community Services.

31 St Clair Road,

Otley.

Bid for transport users group

SIR, - Once again we are about to have a series of changes to our bus services forced on us, and once again it appears that these changes are solely for the benefit of the bus companies rather than their paying passengers.

When I moved to Otley six years ago, we had a direct service to York, three buses an hour to Bradford and other services which have since disappeared.

As it would appear that the bus operators are only interested in their balance sheets and that Metro are unwilling or unable to intervene to protect the wider interests of our community, I would suggest that it is time that the people of Otley and the surrounding areas took action to ensure that their voice is heard.

If any of your readers would be interested in forming a Public Transports Users' Group, then I would invite them to contact me by writing or telephone. If sufficient interest is generated, a meeting will be arranged at a future date where the nature and purpose of the group can be formalised.

Ian Cragg

26 Leeds Road,

Otley,

LS21 1BT.

01943 463703