IT seems the dilemma over the possible electoral dissection of Ben Rhydding is still no nearer a solution. Some people don't seem to be very upset by the proposal, while others are vehemently opposed to the move.

It does seem rather absurd on behalf of civil servants to suggest an electoral boundary which results in Ilkley Grammar School not actually being in Ilkley.

The Boundary Committee is playing the numbers game and splitting Ben Rhydding in two seems the only way of isolating Bradford's Wharfedale communities from the rest of the district while still retaining the same average number of electors in each ward.

The possibility of creating a 'Wharfedale Rural' ward containing Addingham, Burley-in-Wharfedale and Menston has been mooted, which would leave Ilkley and Ben Rhydding as a single entity but is that proposal really viable?

Menston, in particular, is a long way from Addingham and is separated by the vast bulk of Ilkley and Ben Rhydding sitting in the middle of the space between the two. It could be suggested that splitting Ben Rhydding in two did not matter in practical terms, after all, the turn-out in local elections is so low it hardly matters which ward people lived in.

But that would be to forget the other complications of government and electoral boundaries. Burley and Menston are in Shipley Parliamentary Constituency while Ben Rhydding and Addingham are in Keighley and Ilkley.

And let us not forget the planning offices, neighbourhood forums and all the other complicated machinery of local government which demarcates between Burley, Menston and the rest of the valley.

Whatever the Boundary Committee decides, it seems certain there will be plenty of people, wherever they live to accuse the officials of getting it badly wrong.