Action group dismayed at closures

Only eight minutes worth of time, with no debate, was given to discuss the closure of three schools in Otley and the associated loss of teaching jobs. South of the river, Westgate School is to stay open with staff retaining their jobs and pupils retaining their places with no disruption to their education.

Lisker Drive and our school are to close with all staff losing their jobs and pupils having to re-apply for places. The new C o E primary will open on the Lisker Drive site.

We believed that Leeds would treat and consider all three schools south of the river, in a fair and equal light, by closing all three schools and opening two on the best sites. How is a proposal to close some schools and give a 'change of character' to others treating the whole of Otley fairly?

We believe it to be a divisive and discriminatory proposal in that it treats teachers, parents and pupils differently. Some teachers will keep their jobs, others will lose them.

Some parents will not have to apply for a school place again for their child, others will. Parental choice for those parents with children at Otley All Saints Junior School is now limited with this decision.

The junior school has provided a caring, Christian environment in which to nurture and develop our children. This supportive atmosphere draws children from all over Otley and the school is the largest and arguably the most popular in the town.

The parish church council recognises this and disagrees with the Leeds proposal, believing the junior school site to be the best site on which to develop a full Church of England primary school. The site is ideal on which to develop such a school, as so many previous letters to the Wharfedale Observer have clearly demonstrated.

So why is a school with a strong, Christian pastoral tradition, as well as excellent educational qualities, to be closed? There is a general feeling that this whole process is being rushed through and not enough thought is being given to the long-term consequences of this decision.

The junior school is by far the most accessible, central and adaptable school building in Otley within a large, safe and child friendly environment. How short-sighted to lose such an ideal site.

This approval to close our school will have far reaching consequences and have a huge impact on all the children in Otley, not just now but in the years to come. Disruption is bad for all children in Otley, but in particular, it will affect those from the junior school.

Education Leeds, it appears, decided as long ago as March that some children in Otley would be less important than others. The consultation was an afterthought - a sop to democracy - which has left the town let down, bewildered and faced with yet another unsustainable closure.

Otley All Saints Junior

School Action Group,

Riverdale Road,

Otley.

www.saveourschool.fsnet.co.uk

Question of cash

SIR, - Re: Proposals on the future organisation of Primary Schools in Otley: The Leeds City Council proposal to close Chippendale School and All Saints Junior school, highlights the fact that the concept is based purely on financial grounds and not on the needs of the community.

Leeds City Council bungled the lottery bid to up-grade sports facilities at Prince Henry's Grammar School, because Sport England could see that it was an attempt by the city council to get lottery funding for much needed refurbishment. They were not prepared to put sufficient monies in themselves.

This is born out by the fact that they are spending only a little less to tart up Aireborough Leisure Centre than they were prepared to put into the full upgrade at PHGS.

In closing these two schools there will be a loss of the two sports halls which serve Otley clubs. This, of course, is exacerbated when the development of Prince Henry's Grammar School has not happened.

The ability of the Thomas Chippendale School to cope with many more children was demonstrated when its pupil numbers escalated during the bulge in the birth rate during the 1970s. Records should tell you how many children attended this school during those years. Any proposals to build on part of the site but to retain the playing fields makes no sense at all. How can this work in practice? Additionally, within 400m of the site are two underused community fields at Weston Ridge and Newall. If there is money to spend why can't additional facilities be provided on these sites?

John Morgan

Ex-chairman and member of Otley

Sports Council,

St Richards Road,

Otley.

Plight of disabled

SIR, - As we are swamped with political propaganda in the run-up to the election, may I inform readers of a side to our welfare state and health service that politicians would rather they didn't know about. State discrimination against the disabled.

My wife, who is severely disabled with MS, has been denied the only drug which has been proved to help sufferers. Beta Interferon.

This was ordained by the unelected National Institute of Clinical Excellence, based NOT on medical grounds, but economics. The annual cost of NICE is £12.2 million which would have paid for a new hospital in Wharfedale we have been waiting 30 years to get.

Even worse, she has been refused physiotherapy treatment at Wharfedale Hospital, the initial excuse being they did not have the equipment to transfer her from her wheelchair! If Wharfedale surgeon Hasmukh Shah, who has collected £25,000 with Otley Lions, wants a suggestion on how to spend his fund, he should first ensure the physiotherapy department in Otley is properly equipped to treat the disabled before it is transferred to Chapel Allerton.

If Otley hospital is to mean anything, funds should not be siphoned out of the area in this way.

The Community and Mental Health Trust, responsible for Wharfedale Hospital now tell me they are considering using unqualified Home Care staff to carry out physiotherapy. The fact that this is dangerous is outweighed by the saving in cost and shows an increasing tendency to use 'cheap' labour for professional occupations.

As third class citizens we are only worthy of unqualified help as is increasingly the case in classrooms with teaching assistants and GP surgeries with nurses. Professional care is the privilege of the employed, young and rich.

In Blairs 'classless society, the Royal Family are given 24-hour nursing care and specialised physiotherapy 'at home' whilst we have to fight for a third rate service.

When you go to the polls, remember; both the two major political parties have the same Tory free market capitalist philosophy. If you want a better society choose an Independent, Green or Left Alliance candidate. Tory Labour or Conservative is no choice at all.

The gap between the rich and poor is wider than when Tory Labour came into power and if elected will ensure this trend continues.

Malcolm Naylor

21 Grange View,

Otley.

pension policy

SIR, - During the election campaign we are being bombarded from all sides with arguments as to why we should vote for this or that political party. It is my hope that so far as pension policy is concerned, our pensioners will give their vote to Labour.

We have had a better deal from Labour than from the Tories and events have shown that they are more amenable to pressure from the pensioner and Labour movements.

The 75p increase was a disgrace and an insult, but on polling day let us remember that this same Government was moved when its own national conference (due in large part to the pressure of the trade union movement within the party) carried the motion urging the Government to restore the link between pensions and earnings.

This policy still has to be won, but come polling day let us remember that couples now have an extra £8, plus £4 fuel allowance, free TV licence if older, and free eye tests.

Alongside this we could recall the 40p in 1986 and the 80p in 1987 granted to us by the Tories. Aireborough and Otley presented petitions of over 8,500 names to the House of Commons calling for decent pensions.

One rich Tory MP told us that his mother was quite satisfied with her pension, a second MP said that there was no need for us to send a delegation to London and a third, leaving no apology, didn't even turn up and his colleagues had not the faintest idea where he was.

There are people, in my view erroneously, who can see no difference between Tory and Labour policies, advocating that in the absence of a 'Left' candidate we should not vote at all rather than vote Labour. As Tony Benn stated in the House of Commons, not to vote at all is a betrayal of all the sacrifices made by our forefathers to bring in universal suffrage.

Ron Smith

Ings Court,

Guiseley.

Museum times

SIR, - The unique Otley Museum will open to visitors as usual after the Spring bank holiday, that is from Friday, June 1.

The damage caused by the plaster fall in the main exhibits room has now been made good, so that volunteers can now welcome visitors as well as researchers.

The opening hours are as normal - Monday, Tuesday and Friday between 10am and 12.30pm and the first Saturday morning in every month. Admission is free. For appointment, telephone (01943) 461052.

As a special enticement to visitors, old and new, an exhibition has been mounted by some of our volunteers on medicine and public health in Otley and district. As well as a display of the contents of a local doctor's bag, from the late 19th Century. there is a nurse's uniform from the days of the workhouse, now Wharfedale General Hospital, a poem on hygiene from the notebook of Henry Newstead, and a host of remedies for coughs and colds from the chemists of the time.

Pat Hunt

Press Secretary,

Otley Museum,

Otley Civic Centre.

No mention

SIR, - I notice from your letters column of May 17 that Councillor Clive Fox again failed to mention that the Conservatives did not object to the housing proposals for Otley in the Leeds Unitary Development Plan (UDP).

Coun Colin Campbell

11 Prince Henry Road,

Otley.