Letters to the Editor

The school has just had £1.2 million spent on it and its new wing opened last September. Builders are now busy at work on the £85,000 extension due to open in the autumn.

Are the bulldozers to move in to flatten all this in two years' time wasting precious resources and trampling children's education in to the mud?

We are told that there is over-capacity in Baildon's schools. No doubt the Council is keen to get its hands on a valuable piece of land but when all the new houses have been built, where will the extra children go to school? Suddenly there won't be enough school places and we'll be told that Baildon is under-resourced.

This is a ludicrous and wasteful way to run an education system.

E Allen, Reynard Villas, Mayfield Grove, Baildon.

SIR - In January 2001, after 15 years away from the primary sector, I took up a post at Parkland Primary School. The transition was not easy as I had to re-learn a lot of what had once come naturally to me.

But I believe that I have now succeeded and like all the pupils who also succeed at Parkland, I have done so because of the amazing closeness and support of the staff.

We have a first class head; a dedicated governing body; a wealth of support from parents and the local community, and a record of pupil achievement which speaks for itself.

And how are we rewarded? With a proposal that we should be closed!

Bradford knew it was folly to re-open a school (Thorpe Primary) where there are virtually no grounds and which isn't as naturally accessible to the Thorpe Edge Estate as is Parkland.

Could it be that, all along, Bradford had eyes on the Parkland site as a potential money-spinner; a large area of ground which could be sold off for re-development as an additional housing estate?

Alan Sturgess (KS2 and Literacy Co-ordinator), Eshton Road, Gargrave.

SIR - Re the article by Ian Midgley on lap dancing (July 12). It looks as though some of our city fathers, aided perhaps by the "scrupulously clean" and "politically correct", are getting upset because some very naughty folk want to open very naughty dance clubs in our city.

I didn't think anyone really cared! After all, after 70 years it seemed to me that if they don't interfere with others, then people can take their kit off anytime, anywhere; providing it's done in the best possible taste, and no horses get frightened.

While on the subject of taste, can someone tell this "old codger", why some of our younger folk find it very fashionable to display their belly-buttons?

As a lifelong art-lover, I see nothing attractive in this display, even with rings and fancy tattoos.

In a world where children are dying by the million of starvation and disease, I think we could think about something more urgent than lap-dancing.

Jack Mawson, Grove House Crescent, Bradford 2.

SIR - So a "ring of steel" is going to be placed around Bradford? Oh goody! What is the point? The police can catch as many criminals as they wish, but it will not solve the problem.

You see, a whole army of probation officers and social workers stand firmly in their way, pleading with the magistrates for non-custodial sentences for their poor, deprived, drug-addicted, unemployed clients from broken homes. The inevitable result is that these criminals simply re-offend.

I therefore propose a change in the law so that the next time probation officers and social workers plead for a non-custodial sentence, the magistrates should listen to them and comply. However, once the "client" re-offends, both he or she and the social workers and probation officers get sent down - the "client" for the offence and the social workers and probation officers for failing in their duty.

I can guarantee that they and their colleagues subsequently would not be too keen to re-inflict their "clients" on society so readily.

The law-abiding people of Bradford will then feel safer and will sleep soundly in their beds, while the police can go back to the more sedate and lucrative practice of funding their resources via innocent motorists.

M J Murphy, Leaventhorpe Avenue, Bradford 8.

SIR - I see from the T&A of July 15 that there is a difference of opinion regarding the election results between Jamshed Khan (Tory) and Taj Mubarik Salam (Labour) in the Little Horton Ward.

Postal voting should never have been allowed in our society.

This is not a personal issue on my part as I don't know either of the people involved but I would like to see postal voting abolished immediately as it will cause problems at every future election.

Derek Wright, Westbury Street, Bradford 4

SIR - Do not dare to die while in Bradford Council housing, otherwise you will have to give a month's notice of vacating. This scandalous rule, believe it or not, is applied to tenants (dead or alive) when leaving their Council property.

The justification for this Victorian-style rule, imposed by the Council's Housing Department upon society's less-well-off, is hard to imagine.

J Hargreaves, Dene Hill, Baildon.

l A Council Housing spokesman said: "We do our best to be sensitive to the feelings of grieving relatives. In the event of the death of a tenant, we terminate the tenancy on the nearest Monday to the keys being handed in, which is often less than the usual four-week notice period. If there is an estate, landlords can claim against it for any outstanding rent or other charges. If there is no estate, the Council will write off the outstanding debt."

SIR - I am appalled at the way sacked choirmaster Alan Horsey has been treated by the Cathedral. As a past member of the congregation, I know he has contributed positively to the lives and upbringing of countless young people and adults who have been associated with the cathedral choir over the years.

The powers-that-be have done this in a very public, yet secretive and vindictive way. This episode has been used as an excuse to discredit Mr Horsey and terminate his contract when they could have said his contract will not be renewed later in the year.

Once again the church is discredited, but in this case not by Alan Horsey.

Jane Leach, Hoyle Court Avenue, Baildon

SIR - On June 25, on a visit to the National Photographic Museum, my mother tripped and broke her ankle. She was admitted, via the Accident and Emergency Unit, to Ward 5 in Bradford Royal Infirmary.

I am writing to publicly thank all those involved in her care - the ambulance team, the medical and nursing staff, and the domestic team. The treatment she received throughout was excellent and was always delivered with kindness and consideration.

I am sure that her experience was typical of thousands of people who use our National Health Service every day.

I am delighted that we have a government which is now significantly investing in the NHS, which we all too often take for granted.

I would also like to thank the staff of the museum for their kindness. They phoned and visited my mother while she was in Ward 5 and sent a card and flowers.

Howard A Knight, Lyons Street, Sheffield 4

SIR - Today I saw two cyclists on the usually empty cycle lanes in Manningham Lane. Is this a record, or a belated sign of spring?

A R Jones, Bullroyd Avenue, Bradford.