Letters to the Editor

SIR - In response to the appeal from parents, the Ravenscliffe and Greengates Association mounted a vigorous campaign in support of the retention of schools in Bradford North and, in particular, Eccleshill Upper School.

We were told by our councillor, the then chairman of Education, Councillor Suzanne Rooney, that a new school was being built ie Immanuel College, as a replacement for Eccleshill Upper School. Of course, we now know the validity of that statement and the resulting shortage of schools in the area.

The Greengates and Ravenscliffe Forum invited Guy Wilkinson, chairman of governors of Immanuel College, to a meeting of the Forum to express our alarm at the social apartheid that had been created by their demarcation line which included Thorpe Edge, Ravenscliffe, Greengates and Fagley.

He agreed to take our concerns back to his governing body. The result - the continued denial of the right of our children to attend his school. Our children have been effectively disenfranchised.

May we look forward to the support of Councillor David Ward as the prospective Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Bradford North to address this anomaly and defend the interests of the children who have been so callously disregarded?

Audrey Raistrick, secretary, Ravenscliffe and Greengates Association, Oakdale Drive, Bradford 10.

Residents conned

SIR - I wrote in the T&A last year regarding the closure of Eccleshill School. I predicted that pupils from Ravenscliffe, Thorpe Edge, Greengates, Fagley and Eccleshill would be refused admission to Immanuel College at Thackley. It's for children from posh houses at Hirst Wood that this college was built.

Bradford Council have conned the people of Ravenscliffe, Greengates, Thorpe Edge etc. I don't think the Council realise how big this problem will become over the years.

This is a massive area of housing and at any one time will need many thousand places for pupils for many decades to come. Which school is going to accept pupils from this area for the next say five-to-ten years? How many houses is Bradford Council going to build on the site of Eccleshill School and in the Newlands area and where will they go to school?

Before it decides to build anything on the site of Eccleshill School, Bradford Council should think very hard because they may have to build another school.

People from this area will not send their children to Asian-dominated schools because they are afraid of racist attacks on white pupils.

Peter Wood, Ranelagh Avenue, Ravenscliffe.

Council Tax truths

SIR - If Councillor Smith has any respect for the voters of this district, he will cease to litter your pages with distortions of the truth. He claims (April 17) an average rise in Council Tax of nine per cent under Labour.

While the last Conservative government bled councils dry, often forcing them into high Council Tax increases, the combination of a Labour Government and Labour Council delivered a consistently downward trend in local tax increases.

Labour raised Council Tax by just 3.2 per cent in 2000. The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition reversed this trend with a 5.8 per cent increase, beyond Government guidelines.

Coun Smith talks about millions going into front-line services yet knows full well that his group have slashed the Social Services base budget, and that "extra" funding for education was accounted for by provisions made by a Labour Council, and by specific grants from the Labour Government.

If he is so concerned about public services, could he explain how the Conservatives' £16 billion worth of spending cuts will protect them?

As council overspending spirals out of control, it seems that the only economies delivered by Coun Smith's group are those relating to the truth.

Councillor Barry Thorne, Deputy Leader of the Labour Group, City Hall, Bradford.

Family research

SIR - Could any of your readers tell me if any descendants of a Mr John Edward Newton of Bradford are alive today?

John Edward Newton served in the Royal Navy, then on trading sailing ships. I know very little about him but he married Isabel Owen of Beverley or Hull in 1885.

In my possession I have a dilapidated account, day by day, of his voyage as steward from Cardiff to Rio de Janeiro, Rangoon and home to Liverpool in the barge 'Bedford', which I have copied. On his return in December 1884, he married.

He fathered five children, one my mother Charlotte Newton, born 1899 in Hull.

Later he went to California where he died, year unknown.

I should be very interested if any of your readers had any information regarding his descendants.

J W Pearson, PO Box 3062, Teralba 2284, New South Wales, Australia.

The way ahead

SIR - With reference to the letter from Mr Kenneth Higgins "Doubts over bus route scheme" (April 13).

The £7 million initiative on the A641 Manchester Road is a partnership between Bradford MDC, Metro and First Bradford. The development includes 2km of guided busway, new bus lanes, new signal-controlled pedestrian crossing facilities (replacing some unpopular footbridges and subways), new bus shelters (with improved lighting and timetable information) and localised improvements for cyclists.

On completion at the end of the year, the scheme will provide commuters with a more reliable service operated by modern, low-floor quality buses.

The guideway currently under construction between Odsal Top roundabout and Mayo Avenue roundabout is for buses travelling inbound to Bradford addressing congestion that builds up towards the Mayo Avenue roundabout.

Similarly, a second section of guideway will be constructed for buses travelling outbound approaching Mayo Avenue roundabout. Other sections of guided busway will be constructed from the junction of St Stephen's Road to the junction of Croft Street for use by buses travelling in bound (addressing the traffic build-up approaching the city centre).

I would like to reassure Mr Higgins that the guideway is being built to a proven design but because of its location in the middle of a busy highway, construction issues are complex.

Brandon Jones, marketing manager, First Bradford, Bowling Back Lane, Bradford 4.

Ban spitting

SIR - We are told that TB is on the increase. Maybe someone has time to put up posters in all languages about spitting. This can spread TB very rapidly.

Like many others, I don't want it brought into my home on my shoes. There have been posters for quite a while about dog excreta so let's have the same about spitting which is far worse.

D Burnett, Great Horton Road, Bradford.