Letters to the Editor

SIR, - I write as a professional accident investigator, chairman of Ilkley Community Against Speeding, member of Ilkley Road Safety Committee and resident.

As the volumes of traffic have increased in the last 20 years, the onus has switched from vehicles first to community first. This means that it is not the priority to keep vehicles moving to the detriment of pedestrians, residents and other road users.

Instead, the locals enjoy their town and impose some control over the speed of motor vehicles using it.

The best judges of what is good road safety are those most affected by speed and inconsiderate motorists in Ilkley; the residents of Leeds Road, Skipton Road, Victoria Avenue, Bolling Road and others.

Locally elected representatives must listen to residents, pedestrians and others who for nearly two years have been seeking road calming measures in our town. Eighty-six per cent of Bolling Road residents are in favour of roundabouts, pelican crossings and speed cushions.

These measures will slow traffic from its current excessive pace and may deter rat runners. They will overall diminish the dangers to schoolchildren attending the two schools off Bolling Road, provide crossings for prams, disabled vehicles and enhance the quality of life for pedestrians and residents.

It will slow other residents, who may spend five minutes per day travelling in motor vehicles along speed-affected roads. They will have to watch their speed and perhaps improve their driving skills.

ICAS has held demonstrations for the last 18 months at many locations in Ilkley, and we have been met with tremendous local support and encouragement from residents, passers-by and motorists.

One of the most popular remarks is: "I'm so glad someone is doing something." Much of this has been recorded by the Ilkley Gazette.

The police recognise that road calming is necessary. Many residents have signed petitions demanding action in Ilkley and we are within weeks of achieving that goal.

My father-in-law, Colin Outtersides, who was a member of Ilkley Urband District Council during the sixties, likens today to the situation with the Ilkley bypass, which at one stage was approved by the council but never built. Nearly 40 years on we are still dealing with the aftermath of that decision.

There are still further road safey measures needed in Ilkley, in areas like Cowpasture Road, where tremendous vehicle speeds are regularly observed, and this on a road which is heavily residential and hosting the main entrance to Ilkley Grammar School, used on a daily basis by hundreds of students.

You can only talk for so long, listen to those involved. Let's get on with our current road calming measures and move on to new challenges.

JOHN MOORHOUSE

60 Bolling Road,

Ilkley.

Complete overkill

SIR, - Mr R Wright is quite correct that 11 speed tables along Bolling Road are complete overkill. If our invisible local police were occasionally to stop and fine people for speeding along Bolling Road (nay, there was a police house on Bolling Road once) and other roads, and it was reported in the local papers, most of these measures, along with their huge costs, would not be necessary. Instead, the vast majority of people who drive sensibly and keep to speed limits will have to live with ridiculous restrictions and longer queues as a result.

The bizarre narrowing of the road under Bolling Road railway bridge, as another example, will do nothing to make it safer for pedestrians and only lead to more accidents as traffic views due to bends are quite restricted in both directions.

While it may well be that 86 per cent of Bolling Road and Springs Lane residents are in favour of these new measures, they do not represent everyone in the area and I speak as someone who has lived in Ilkley off and on for the last 30 years and has two small children at the local school.

Of course, the decision to expand the Grammar School rather than use the eminently more sensible ex-Middle School site on Springs Lane can only worsen the situation by leading to more congestion along Bolling Road - but then again I presume the planners thought of that.

Objections on LEG/PL/CEB/02728 and the speed tables can be emailed to Gerry A Danby, Legal and Democratic Services Director at gdanby@city hall.bradford.gov.uk.

David Walker

42 Wheatley Avenue,

Ben Rhydding.

Speed concern

SIR, - I write in response to the letter in the Ilkley Gazette Feb.27 from Robin Wright, in which he says that the planned speed bumps on Bolling Road and Springs Lane amount to a 'sledgehammer to crack a nut'.

I can see his point, but have to disagree: All drivers should know that 30 mph is the legal speed limit for any road unless otherwise indicated. I have rarely seen anyone driving at this speed on these roads- indeed people have told me that they use them as a quick alternative to Leeds Road.

I constantly see cars doing speeds of over 50 mph. I doubt that a road sign would make any difference to their behaviour, and presumably the consultancy firm who made the decision to use speed bumps feels the same.

I note that Mr. Wright lives on a quiet road. Therefore he will not see all that goes on, and the situation can hardly affect him as it does those of us living on Springs Lane or Bolling Road. Concern over drivers' speeds impacts directly on our lives. I have two young children and their safety is obviously a matter of prime importance to me. It is a most unpleasant and worrying experience to even go for a walk in to town, or teach them to ride their bikes in safety. What if a speeding driver lost control of his car and ploughed in to my children? What matters most is the safety of those who live on these roads, not the feelings of drivers who use them.

There is also a group of residents who have fought a long battle to address these problems. Let their efforts be rewarded.

Mrs Joanne Button

33 Springs Lane,

Ilkley.

Too many humps

SIR, - I find myself in total agreement with Robin Wright's letter on the plan to put speed humps in Bolling Road. On February 26 work was in progress on Bolling Road to repair surface defects, i.e. to make the surface smoother for the passage of vehicles.

If the proposal for 11 speed bumps (each with an up ramp and a down ramp) goes ahead, another set of works will soon commence with exactly the opposite objective. What is proposed is good for neither drivers nor the environment.

I can readily envisage that the increased noise, brake dust, emissions and fuel consumption will result in removal of the 'speed platforms' within a few years. This is not joined-up thinking, and remember who is paying for all this.

If you do not want the return journey from central Ben Rhydding to central Ilkley to involve the purgatory of 22 up ramps and 22 down ramps, you need to object in writing before March 12. The address can be found on notices attached to lamp-posts, or on application at The Town Hall.

I totally agree that excessive speed on Bolling Road needs to be curbed, but this proposal just solves one problem and replaces it with another.

Ian Henderson

3 Wheatley Avenue,

Ben Rhydding.

Figures, please!

SIR, - In last week's Gazette you reported that you had been informed by Steve Brown of Bradford Council that 86 per cent of residents in Bolling Road and Springs Lane had said they were in favour of the proposed traffic calming measures on Bolling Road and Springs Lane.

I understand that it was, in fact, 86 per cent of those who responded to the questionnaire sent out by the council. However, we are not told how many actually responded.

Can we please be told just how many residents in Bolling Road and Springs Lane have written to the council in support of the scheme in its entirety and how many residents there actually are? If we are to be given statistics, they should be in full and complete, not edited highlights.

My own view is that the scheme is draconian, although one or two items such as a pedestrian crossing outside the health centre merit further consideration.

I understand that some residents, having now studied the scheme in detail, appreciate that 11 speed bumps, of which three are zebra crossings, together with an extra roundabout, are totally inappropriate for a stretch of road of approximately one mile.

It is not too late for them to write to Bradford Council amending their previous views. Letters should be sent to the Department of Transportation Design Planning, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Traffic and Design Unit, Olicana House, Chapel Street, Bradford BD1 5BY (reference TDP/H/23618/TH).

PETER HAWKESWORTH

125 Bolling Road,

Ilkley.

Precept queries

SIR, - In the Gazette of November 7 last, Councillor Michael Gibbons was quoted as saying: "There is no intention to increase the precept by any figure - at the outside it will be the same as last year."

On February 27, the Gazette reported that the precept is to be increased by about £2 per household on last year. I can say that in the case of my house it will be an increase of 29 per cent.

So what has Coun Gibbons got to say about the increase? Did he get it wrong? Did City Hall decide otherwise; decide that the precept would be increased, and the parish council just nodded its collective head? I think that the parish councillors have let us down badly. They have been pushed into levying a precept without considering the consequences to our money. We are being led by them into paying twice for services properly provided by Bradford Council.

We literally cannot afford to have a parish council that acts in this way. Remember that, in two or three years' time, there is to be a revaluation of our house values, when we shall get even bigger council tax bills, including the levying of bigger precepts, than now.

To come to the bizarre. When I wrote to Bradford Council about an Ilkley parish councillor living the other side of Otley, I was informed that it was thought to be in order because the person's address was well within three miles of the parish boundary to the east of Burley-in-Wharfedale.

The map shows that on the same basis virtually the entire adult population of Otley in Leeds Metropolitan District is likewise eligible to be elected to Ilkley Parish Council. Then there are all those people who live in Guiseley, also in the Leeds district, and within three miles of the parish boundary at Menston.

Altogether, you could say that there are more people living outside Ilkley parish who are eligible to be elected on to Ilkley Parish Council than there are eligible people living within the parish boundary. Nice one.

EDWIN SCHIRN

Ilkley.

Fight against human trafficking

SIR, - March 8 is International Women's Day and Soroptimists in more than 100 countries will be taking action against one of the greatest threats to human rights in our present world. Trafficking is the third greatest and fastest gowling global criminal activity, generating $7 billion of profit annually.

The Home Office estimates that 1,420 women are trafficked to the UK each year for sexual exploitation. This figure does not include women and children who may be trafficked for forced labour.

Soroptimist International of Ilkley supports the work of ACPAT UK (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking) in lobbying the Government to bring in legislation to prevent the trafficking of people, particularly children.

Soroptimist International continues to be engaged in project designed to prevent women and children becoming victims of this trade and is continually active in promoting awareness of this problem.

GLENNIS SENIOR

Programme Action Officer,

Soroptimist International of Ilkley,

Slates Lane,

Ilkley.