SIR - During the last two months, this organisation has found out from various sources that there have been sightings of large rats in the village of Idle.

They have also been seen in the grounds of Thorpe Primary School.

May we ask for the assistance of local takeaways in the interests of hygiene to ask their customers to kindly place all used wrappers in the bins which are situated around the village, instead of dropping them in the street.

The last thing that we want in Idle, or anywhere else, is a mass infestation of rats. We couldn't cope with it and people would be very poorly if such a thing should happen.

Therefore we, the Idle Village Tenants and Residents Association, urgently request that this is adhered to.

We have contacted the local authorities, and made them aware of the situation.

S Ackroyd (chairman) and J A Willis, (secretary), Idle Village Tenants & Residents Association, c/o Idle Baptist Church & Community Centre, Bradford Road, Idle.

SIR - It is very rare that I criticise Bradford, but I do feel disappointed at the new Oastler Shopping Centre.

Millions of pounds have been spent on transforming the old rundown John Street Market into a new modern facility.

From the outside it looks attractive, modern and inviting but unfortunately one of the first sights that greets you is an empty stall and then as you wander up and down the aisles you see more and more empty stalls waiting to be let.

The Oastler Centre has been officially reopened, but how when many units are empty? It looks closed up.

If no action is taken the millions spent will have been wasted and it will become Bradford's white elephant.

The Council needs to make more of an effort to fill the empty stalls and make the Oastler Centre a popular and thriving market hall.

Jack MacPherson, Killinghall Road, Bradford 3.

SIR - Chris Leslie MP asks "Who is in charge of Bradford Council?"

Why has it taken him over five years to think of that query? Of course he is right to doubt some of Council's decisions and activities.

When I made my complaints against these councillors in the past, Mr Leslie responded in the same manner as the Council had already done, passing my complaint from one department to another, then one MP passing the details on to another department or another MP.

This is how those elected MPs and councillors serve the electorate, who provide all those public servants with high salaries and expenses.

J Clapham, Spring Hill, Wilsden.

SIR - No-one would think that we had recently had National Ragwort Week, particularly looking at our railway/river/canal embankments and highways and byways, not to mention gardens. Ragwort is the yellow flower to be found growing in all these places in great number.

Although it is not illegal to grow this weed, it is illegal to allow it to seed and spread, yet year in and year out nobody does anything about it. This plant not only harms animals, it is poisonous to humans too. It is an accumulative poison getting into the blood stream through the pores on the skin.

Following a successful Court case, action can now be taken against those who allow it to grow near or where horses graze.

Maybe the trust responsible for Farm Meadow in Saltaire could do something about that field as it is awash with the weed.

So come on councils and those responsible for our railways/canal and river banks: let's get rid of this awful weed once and for all. For gardeners, please do wear rubber gloves and where possible burn it as this is the only safe way of disposing of it.

M Bell, Carlton Walk, Shipley.

SIR - In response to the letter from S Holmes (August 7) who had his car vandalised while attending the Castleford match at Valley Parade.

He states that in all the time he parked his car around Odsal Stadium it was never vandalised.

I also parked my car around Odsal Stadium while attending one of the many matches. On returning to it after one match, three cars in front of mine had been badly vandalised. Every car window had been smashed, radios taken, and large scratches made with a sharp instrument down the side and the bonnet of the cars.

I had left my dog in my car while I attended the match so maybe this was the reason for me escaping the damage to my car.

The Bradford Bulls are a great team, and need our support. Don't let some mindless vandals win. Rise above this and give this great team all the support it richly deserves.

B Butterworth, Lichfield Mount, Poplars Farm, Bradford 2.

SIR - I was disappointed by Chris Leslie's August 7 letter to the T&A concerning school numbers in Baildon. I feel it is a case of people in glass houses not throwing stones.

Those who claim certainty for the statistical projections are doing us all a disfavour. They are only limited help. They cannot indicate the school numbers required by additional housing in Baildon nor can they help over parental choice.

With the availability of cars in an urban area, many parents have access to any number of schools. It was the use of parental choice which blew the statistical base for the last reorganisation in Baildon.

Let us learn the lesson of this and keep Hoyle Court School open.

Stewart Main, Acrehowe Rise, Baildon.

SIR - Mr Hodgson (Letters, August 8) has hinted that "They" are a small group who think "They" know best what we should all be thinking and are dangerous. I think he might actually have answered his own question.

We in Bradford or indeed the UK are unable to see what's going on under our noses. It takes a visitor to hold up a mirror to us. Democracy is being eroded.

Yet these people were described in graphic detail in 1984 by George Orwell and Aldous Huxley in Brave New World but we sheep have thought these were works of fiction, not the reality they were trying to predict.

Stefania Lewkowicz, Carrbottom Road, Bradford 5.