Store opening causes problems

As a resident of Springs Terrace this cost is very real. We live just yards away from the car park and are now subject to the background noise of cars and trolleys late into the evening, we have lights shining into our windows all night (contrary to Tesco's statements in this paper) and we have to endure the disturbance caused by the groups that congregate in the car park after pub closing hours and stay into the early hours.

Tesco seem unable to control the behaviour of these groups and there is often a lot of noise from shouting and trolleys being kicked around.

In the short time the new hours have been in force we have been woken or kept awake on numerous occasions - an experience shared with others on the terrace.

On top of these disruptions we also face the knowledge that should we choose to move, our houses will be more difficult to sell and in all probability will be worth less.

Cases such as this, where there are conflicting interests, are normally subject to planning permission. But in this instance Tesco appear to be the sole arbiter of what hours they should open and what level of disturbance they can cause to local residents. We feel that we have no say in the matter.

The only recourse we have is to boycott the store in favour of Booths and other local shops. I would like to ask that readers that sympathise with our plight do likewise.

Richard AND Janet Grace

34 Springs Terrace,

Ilkley.

Changing times

SIR, - Lots of people ask how changes to Ilkley have come about and suppose that it's due to some plan. Eileen Lund's kindly inquiries along these lines (Letters, September 7 ) seek answers that I presume I should try to answer.

All parts of our country are subject to changes in both technology and people. Populations have grown everywhere because public health has improved and more people live to be older. Our travel patterns have changed, too, because cars are now relatively cheap and widely available.

Ilkley is not exempt from the consequences of these changes and we all know that our country's population has grown by half as much again in the time since Eileen Lund came to live here. In Ilkley, the numbers of older people and everybody's cars have both soared by many times over.

Another change has been the increase in the proportion of elderly and infirm people who are now cared for in their own homes. This has led top a great increase in the demand for social services and an overall decline in the numbers of places needed in residential and nursing homes.

Alongside that change has been a steep decline in the number of children that women have during their lifetimes. More women have careers than before and seek less housework. Households are smaller and many families want houses with garages and small gardens.

Older people often want to live independently in cosy flats in quiet areas that are accessible to shops and public transport. No wonder smaller homes in Ilkley are in strong demand!

If all those human changes weren't enough, Ilkley has also been subject to changes in planning laws introduced in the 1940s and 1960s. These introduced and extended the concept of 'green belts' to prevent development being spread out across our countryside as happened before. Also introduced were designations for 'conservation areas', 'listed buildings' and 'major urban green spaces'. Ilkley's development has been affected by all of those devices.

Turning now to the proceeds of property sales. The Semon Home is part of a Charitable Trust and its proceeds and interest are designated its own chosen educational purposes.

Wells House was bought with UK taxpayers' money for use as a college and was not part of Bradford Council either. Like Hill Top, the changing needs of people meant that it was redundant and it was sold to keep taxes down.

It is expensive to provide public services in Ilkley and our country's taxpayers provide nearly all of that funding. For example, the capital expenditure for our new and extended school buildings will be more than twice the amount per pupil in the Bradford area as a whole.

Finally, I have checked with the Highways Maintenance Department and they tell me that exceptional damage to roads by anyone would (if proven) be re-charged to them. Ordinary wear and tear - including the breakage of water pipes - is usually not attributable and must be made good either by themselves or the relevant utility. Prompt reports to (01535) 618300 would help that mutual surveillance.

Andrew Dundas

2 Pines Cottages,

Parish Ghyll Drive,

Tipping issue

SIR, - I have received an anonymous letter via the Ilkley Gazette, to which it is difficult to reply, but perhaps the writer will read this. The letter referred to an eyesore down by the allotments behind the Wharfedale Gate public house.

The areas in question are known already to Ilkley Parish Council in photographs and a video taken of the town's alternative beauty spots. Councillor Keith Thompson, formerly of Bradford Council Cleansing Department, joined me last year on a visit to 25 of the 30-odd sites where rubbish is tipped throughout Ilkley. Perhaps Councillors Powell or Hawkesworth would make a similar visit.

If the resident (and I assume he or she is a resident) is so concerned about the problem, may I point out a few areas not covered in the letter.

l Beside the moorland footpath behind Crossbeck Road, the north west corner of Coppy Wood and boundaries of Stubham Wood.

l Along Water Lane from the Old Bridge to the Tennis Club. Below Surprise View!

l Opposite West View on Wells Road, behind a clump of trees atop Wheatley Avenue and across in the Rakes.

l And wherever those too idle to go to the tip think no-one will notice. Oh and the south bank of the river between the allotments and the stepping stones.

I never condone the tipping of household, garden or builders rubbish, especially when there is a council tip close by.

However before people start looking for scapegoats they should look in their own back yard or that of their neighbours as the case may be.

Hopefully the next letter the Gazette receives will have a name and address attached.

FRAZER IRWIN

Queens Road,

Ilkley.

School plea

SIR, - I write to urge as many people as possible who care about the built environment to view the plans for the new All Saints School which are currently in for planning permission, and write to Bradford Council planning department with their objections.

Imagine the reaction if a private developer tried to plead poverty and say they could only afford rendered brickwork, wood panels and a tin roof!

Just because Bradford Council is financing the school, doesn't mean the quality of the building work should be reduced.

How many people know the design life of a metal clad roof is often less than 20 years?

If enough people write in, perhaps the planning committee will take notice and reject the plans until a proposal more in keeping is submitted.

Peter Haines,

22 Ashburn Place,

Ilkley.

Military history

SIR, - So the curmudgeon can't think what the connection is between Leeds and the Royal Armouries' subject - arms and armour - (Southerners take it all....August 24, 2000).

Does he think that Leeds, or Yorkshire as a whole, has led some kind of Utopian existence, untouched by the conflicts and violence that have benighted the rest of civilisation?

Where does he think the extraordinary men and women who parade through our streets on Remembrance Day come from?

What does he think they did to deserve our thanks, and does he think that this has nothing to do with arms and armour?

Curmudgeon may remember that Barnbow munitions factory, Leeds, was one of the country's leading centres for the production of artillery shells during WWI.

Indeed when he considers the battles of Stamford Bridge, Towton and Marston Moor he will realise that Yorkshire has one of the bloodier histories of any county in the country.

He must surely recall that Vickers manufactured tanks in the city until very recently. And surely he knows that Yorkshire is home to, and a fertile recruiting ground for many of our finest regiments; that its cities have given their names to many ships in the Royal Navy? Apparently not.

The Royal Armouries does and acts as a permanent place of reflection on these matters. It seeks to broaden horizons, open minds and inform public debate on a subject that is of universal importance to us today.

How sad then that our connections with the past, as represented by the Curmudgeon, should so soon be forgotten along with our desire to learn from it.

Of course in some ways he is right, why should Yorkshire men and women have to trek to London or wherever to see great international collections?

The answer in the Royal Armouries case is that they don't. It is here in their midst, a magnificent world resource on their very doorsteps, just as the subject it represents always has been.

In the last four years the Royal Armouries museum, Leeds, has served as a place of inspiration, reflection and learning for more than 1.6 million people from across the world, including Ilkley.

Oh and on September 16/17 the museum is free as part of Heritage Open Days 2000, otherwise all tickets are now under £5 with an annual pass for a family costing just £19.50. Not bad for over three millennia worth of history brilliantly told.

Nicholas Boole,

Royal Armouries Museum,

Armouries Drive,

Leeds.

Men identified

SIR, - What a surprise to see the photo of Ilkley Territorials in the Gazette. The man in the centre, fourth from the right is my late brother.

Thomas (Tommy) Perkins, of Addingham. I am sorry to say he was killed in action in North Africa in 1943, aged 23.

Edith Burke (nee Perkins),

10 Aynholme Drive,

Addingham,

Ilkley.

l THE youngster in the white shirt front has been identified as 19-year-old George Peacock. Mr Peacock, who died some time ago, was the founder of the Brewery Road, Ilkley, building firm of the same name. Anyone with any other names to go with the photo published in last week's paper is asked to send them to the usual address.