Arguments for Manor Park bypass

Let us be clear about this, 'Manor Park Bends' and 'Ilkley Bypass' are two separate issues and my only comments on the latter are that the vast majority of Ilkley residents I know, desperately want a bypass, but one which runs through somebody else's back garden - not theirs.

I have lived on the A65 at Manor Park for more than 25 years and, like other neighbours, have converted my front garden into a car turning area to avoid reversing directly on to the road.

The proposal put forward by some, that coloured strips of tarmac and a few speed restriction signs would solve the problem, really beggars belief. This would merely be an attempt to paper over cracks and would be no solution.

It is an undisputed fact that a route for a Manor Park bypass was approved many years ago. Some residents fronting the A65 were even offered secondary double glazing as protection from the noise and pollution of the new road and the scheme was, in fact, shelved two months prior to the commencement date, when the Government pulled the plug due to a lack of funds.

For years now we have had to pre-warn visitors of the dangers of the 'bends' and my own mother-in-law, who travels by bus to visit us, has always had to alight at a bus stop in the village instead of the one near our house to avoid the risk of crossing the road.

Those residents with families know only too well of the risks involved in escorting their children to the local bus stop. Most Sunday mornings I jog from Manor Park to Ilkley and back, and not infrequently witness manoeuvres that are more appropriate to Formula One circuits than to Coutances Way and Manor Park.

How the Highways Agency can put forward the view that there are not enough accidents on this stretch of the A65 to warrant a bypass is nothing short of preposterous. I really have no idea how many major accidents there have been in recent years resulting in serious injuries and sometimes, unfortunately, fatalities, never mind the innumerable minor accidents that are not reportable.

What I do know is that the number is on the increase, which makes a mockery of the Highways Agency's recent statement.

There has been another very serious accident today (October 21) which has necessitated in three ambulances, two fire engines, several police cars and an air ambulance attending to administer first aid to the injured. Residents yet again have done their best to console the victims and one lady resident who has been through it all so many times is both shocked and distressed at what has happened outside her house.

The 'comment' columns in the Ilkley Gazette last month following the tragic fatality were both pertinent and absolutely right.

Everyone from the Highways Agency through to Bradford Council, including MP Ann Cryer, knows full well we have not witnessed the last fatality. Perhaps someone soon will tell us all just when, not how, this problem will be solved once and for all?

Neville Newton

96 Ilkley Road,

Manor Park,

Burley-in-Wharfedale.

Opposing view

Sir, - It's not often I regard an editorial in the Ilkley Gazette as naive, but last week's demand for a Manor Park Bends bypass to solve the problems of dangerous and irresponsible driving was just that.

Roads don't cause accidents, drivers do. DTLR research shows that speed is the biggest single cause of death and injury accidents on our roads. Even by-passes don't solve that problem - the B6160 interchange on the Addingham bypass is a notorious accident blackspot, the Skipton bypass has had many fatalities and even the Otley bypass had a hideous fatal accident a few weeks ago caused by driver error.

Modern cars are designed to cruise at 80mph, and it could be argued that accidents have increased at Manor Park because of the speed effect of the Burley dual carriageway, with drivers simply not aware of the speeds they are travelling on narrower roads.

Manor Park Bends are safe at 40mph, difficult at 50 but downright dangerous at 60. We urgently need a 40mph mandatory speed limit, reinforced by cameras, to prevent the kind of criminally irresponsible behaviour which has produced so many tragic deaths and injuries.

Of course people who have bought homes along the A65, both at Manor Park and Leeds Road, will understandably campaign, as Ann Cryer has pointed out, to move the problems into someone else's backyard.

But as the recent excellent Oscar Faber Ilkley traffic consultation, supported by Ilkley Parish Council, demonstrated so well, long term solutions to problems of traffic and road safety in Wharfedale are less about additional concrete and tarmac, more about changing attitudes and behaviour.

Colin Speakman

Chairman,

Transport 2000 West

Yorkshire Group.

Arriva backed

Sir, - It used to be said to people who asked difficult questions, "God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform."

Regarding Arriva, something of the same sort applies to Stephen Byers. Here we have a company in deep you know what, for reasons beyond its control.

To make it do better, it is fined £2,000,000. Arriva cannot possibly be blamed for the chaos that followed the Hatfield accident or the reorganisation of the lines at Leeds.

If train drivers are in short supply, no-one can wave a magic wand and clone them. It is only right to penalise Arriva if they failed to take all possible measures to give an excellent service. It is no strain on our imaginations to believe that they have done everything that they could possibly do. Not to have done would be stupid.

To their credit, they have provided the best trains that we have ever seen for our local services. If those who set the fine can say that there is something that Arriva could and should have done; they should say what it is, or give back the fine.

William Boocock

17 Wheatley Lane,

Ilkley.

Afghanistan aid

Sir, - Oxfam's Yorkshire and North-East Campaigns Office has been inundated with calls from local people wanting to know how they can help the people of Afghanistan.

Right now, 2.5 million people face a desperate lack of food, and, as the winter approaches, the situation can only get worse. The crisis in Afghanistan is becoming one of the greatest humanitarian challenges the international community has ever faced.

Oxfam has been working in Afghanistan for more than 12 years, where families have already endured three years of severe drought and 20 years of war.

Oxfam is now working in extremely difficult conditions to deliver food supplies in Afghanistan to those who need it most - before the onset of winter in mid-November. But if more lifesaving aid does not arrive before the snow, many more people face starvation.

Please write to Tony Blair today. Ask him to take a lead and urge the international community to allow food into Afghanistan before the snows arrive and overland routes become impassable.

The impact of individual campaigning can't be over-estimated. You really can make a difference. Money is urgently needed to fund the emergency aid effort. Oxfam's appeal has already raised £150,000. Just £25 will feed two people for the whole winter.

If you would like to donate to Oxfam's Afghanistan Appeal, please call 0845 300 7070, or donate via your local Oxfam shop, or online at www.oxfam.org.uk/afghanistan

REBECCA PALMER

Campaigns Officer,

Oxfam Afghanistan Crisis Appeal..

Namibia trip

Sir, - The funding for next year's trip to Namibia by students of Ilkley Grammar School needs further consideration. The students themselves are devising ways to raise their air fare to Namibia and, for hard work and ingenuity, they are to be congratulated.

However, in the events being organised and other fundraising activities, the general public should not be misled into believing they are supporting the registered Namibia charity. They are in most cases helping to pay for the student's air fare. Whilst I have no objection to this if it is made clear to the public at the outset, I fear this is often not the case.

Western charities and aid organisations do untold good in the Third World. But what these countries do not need are affluent teenagers from the UK doing unskilled labour, a commodity they have in excess anyway.

If the parents of Ilkley wish to send their children off on an exotic holiday to Africa that is their business. But please don't wrap it up with, at best, bogus charitable status and expect the good and generous people of Ilkley to pay for it.

MR S TOMLINSON

30 Bark Lane,

Addingham,

Ilkley

Survivors sought

Sir, - I am researching the last flight of RAF Hastings TG579 of 48 Squadron RAF Changi, Singapore which was en route to RAF Gan in the Maldives from RAF Katunayake in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on Tuesday March 1, 1960.

The aircraft crashed in a ferocious tropical storm into the sea two miles short of the runway at RAF Gan. I was a passenger on board that aircraft returning to the UK.

My fellow passengers and crew totalled 20 and by the skin of our teeth we escaped death or serious injury, I have been successful in locating two of the six crew and four of the 14 passengers, I would very much like to know the whereabouts of the remainder of the crew and passengers.

Of the 14 passengers, two were Naval Ratings and two were Royal Marine Commandos. Through your columns, anyone with any information, no matter how insignificant, please contact me.

John 'Gary' Cooper

2 Browns Grove,

Kesgrave, Ipswich.

Touched ....

SIR, - You would understand that, with some reticence, I recently moved to England from the United States.

But, having seen local folk on Skipton Road waving 30th birthday placards to somebody on Friday morning, I can only say how touched I am by the kindness and humanity of the English. I look forward to spending many months here as a cousin from across the pond.

D CAMPBELL

Bluebird,

Hodgson's Fold,

Addingham.