Letters to the Editor

Despite being about to sell off all council houses and shops because it has no money; despite curtailing the house repair programme because it has run out of money; despite closing schools as they cannot be kept open as there is no money; despite allowing one of its oldest theatres to crumble into dust because it has no money; despite closing elderly people's homes because there is no money; despite letting parks (other than Lister Park) run down through lack of money; despite selling off one of the country's most successful festivals because it has no money; despite Bradfordians no longer being safe in their own homes, let alone the street, because there is no money to make the city and its suburbs safe, Bradford still stands a positive chance of becoming a Capital of Culture.

Why? Because it can perform miracles!

Out of the blue it can find £4.6 million to fund a professional, private company sporting body.

Hurrah for Bradford and its Council!

Mike Stocks, The Coppies, Delph Hill, Wyke.

SIR - Haven't we got our priorities wrong in this country? £2,000 a week to keep each dangerous prisoner in secure accommodation with top-quality medical care. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of Lottery money going to an anti-deportation group which is campaigning for convicted criminals to remain in this country when their sentences are complete.

Now we hear that our own Council is giving £4.6 million to the Bradford Bulls. Meanwhile they want to close the Meadowcroft Home on Rooley Lane against the will of the residents and everybody connected with it.

£3 million was suddenly found to establish a new Court in Bradford to deal with asylum applications. This money would be better spent on keeping Meadowcroft open and indeed increasing such provision. Some of these people have lived through two world wars, enduring all the privation that entailed, and many probably started work at the age of 12. Now they are all being sidelined as if they don't matter.

Have they thought of appealing to the European Court of Human Rights?

E Baxter, Hoyle Court Road, Baildon.

SIR - It would appear that the Bradford Metropolitan Council has a bottomless purse when it suits them and magicians of extra ordinary ability who can conjure up vast sums of money on demand.

They have managed to find money to turn Centenary Square into some kind of Sahara dessert, they have even found the sum of £4.6 million to give to the Bradford Bulls. But when it comes to keeping old people's homes, eg Meadowcroft, open they claim there is no money in the kitty.

I challenge any councillor who claims to represent the people of Bradford to explain why, when it comes to private enterprise, there seems to be a bottomless purse but where its senior citizens are concerned there is nothing in the kitty.

Just where do our elected councillors' priorities lie in the care of the senior citizens or in sporting stadiums and sand castles?

Dennis Scanlon, West View Avenue, Wrose.

SIR - Having witnessed the aftermath of a tragically-fatal accident on August 21 on Rooley Lane, in which an eight-year-old girl died, I think Bradford Council and the police MUST now pull their finger out and do something to improve what is probably the worst road in the region.

As I work on Rooley Lane I see many minor accidents and near misses, particularly on the zebra crossing. Motorists use Rooley Lane as an extension to the M606. Speeds of 70mph or more are commonplace. This is a menace to law-abiding motorists, pedestrians and the general public.

I have on several occasions contacted the Council, the police and local councillors about the issue, yet nothing is being done.

A speed camera would be a start, combined with visible policing and enforcement of fines by the courts.

Every fatality is not just the fault of speeding motorists, but of the Council, police and the government.

S White, Drovers Way, Bradford 2

SIR - I would like to extend an invitation to your readers to support the work of Sustrans in your area.

Sustrans - the sustainable transport charity - is responsible for co-ordinating the building of the National Cycle Network, currently covering 6,500 miles of the UK, with 10,000 miles planned for 2005.

Sustrans is also supporting hundreds of Safe Routes to School initiatives, as well as a host of new projects aimed at easing transport congestion, making our streets safer and more pleasant while protecting our environment.

We need new supporters in your area in order to help us continue our work. Supporters provide us with the essential core funding that enables us to release money from government and non-government sources. Every £1 we receive from supporters helps us to release up to £26 that goes straight into a new stretch of the cycle network, supporting a Safe Route to School etc.

You can join now by calling 0117 929 0888, e-mail info@sustrans.org.uk or visit our website www.sustrans.org.uk, and we will send a free information pack to get you started.

Kevin Saunders, Sustrans, King Street, Bristol, BS1 4DZ.

SIR - I take my hat off to Mr Marsha Singh, MP for Bradford West, for supporting the ban on hunting with dogs.

If Tony Blair and his cronies had kept the solemn promise he made before the last election to ban hunting with hounds, which 85 per cent of the population want, we wouldn't need to campaign. It was obviously a con to get votes.

Anyone who obtains pleasure from chasing an animal for miles until it drops from exhaustion then watches a pack of hounds tear it to pieces while it is still alive has got to have a very sick sense of pleasure.

R Carter, Baildon Road, Shipley.

SIR - Has the Council gone completely off its trolley, thinking of using the River Aire to scatter ashes?

Has anybody considered the numbers of people who would descend on this spot from all over Britain? Surely pollution experts should step in and say enough is enough.

Next we'll be hearing that bathing and using the river as a toilet would also be allowed, as it is in the Ganges.

The Council might like to bend over backwards a little further and set up some funeral pyres and buildings to accommodate the relatives.

Jenny Sampson, Rossmore Drive, Allerton.

SIR - Re your report about the Batley & Spen MP asking Tony Blair for a meeting over the treatment of minorities in India (T&A, August 21).

Mr Wood picked an issue which will make him a chief among the Indians of Yorkshire for raising the voice in defence of the minorities.

He should not try to be a hero. What he is trying is to knock a wedge between Hindus and Muslims who have lived together in harmony for a long time with variety of religious and cultural differences to share.

What has happened in Gujarat State is nothing new in a country like India. It has seen such disturbances for various reasons in the past. Indians have tackled such problems themselves and I don't think opportunists like him need to interfere.

The people of Gujarat will resolve the present crisis in a manner that is best for them. After all, they are there to live together as Gujaratis.

I feel sorry for the Batley men who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. My sympathy goes to them and their families.

B Lad, Oaks Drive, Bradford 15.

SIR - I would like to trace some of my school friends from Heaton Middle School, Haworth Road, who attended from 1979-83.

Our head teachers were Mr Hodgson and Miss Dean. I'd love to hear from them and catch up on old times and what they're up to.

Some of the names are Neil Durant, Phil Mercer, Michaela Smith, Elaine Brewster, Heidi Dyson, Phillip Best, Catherine Eyres.

Most of them lived up Haworth Road and surrounding areas. We were in Mrs Caygill's class, others were in Mr Saint's and Mr Fullan's.

A H Nazir, 254 Lumb Lane, Bradford BD8 7SF.