Letters to the Editor

Councillor Valerie Binney, who has taken it upon herself to head the neighbours' crusade (or witch-hunt as I would prefer to call it), has been personally invited to visit my garden and home where the cats and kittens are kept.

So far she has not taken up the invite although she has made several visits to various neighbours' homes to attend meetings about me and give advice on how to fight i.e. petitions.

Mrs Binney seems hell-bent on having my sanctuary closed down, even though 17 councillors and the head of the planning committee visited and passed it in December 1995.

The Conservatives have been in office less than six months and already they want to cull all the pigeons, kill all the rats and close the cat sanctuaries. Roll on the next elections.

Come on, animal lovers, give me your support and get the Council to provide Bradford with help for Cats and Dogs.

Jenny Sampson, Rossmore Drive, Allerton.

SIR - In answer to the article about Jenny Sampson and her cats, I would like to state I have lived on Rossmore Drive about 24 years, and I have never experienced a smell over the last five years as stated by Elizabeth Robertshaw.

I live with Mrs Sampson as she is my wife who I fully support in the work that both she and I carry out every day of the year.

When the Council come up with an alternative to the cat problem, I would clearly love to get my life and garden back, and not to have to clear up stones and bottles that have been thrown at our pets by neighbours.

So come on, councillor and neighbours, don't make a hard-enough job impossible.

C Cockayne, Rossmore Drive, Allerton.

SIR - It is clear from unkind comments made by your readers and in letters sent to me that there is a misunderstanding of the situation re the cat problem at Rossmore Drive. There is no planning permission for a cat rescue centre to be run from number 8. The Cat Rescue Centre is a charity based at Prune Park Lane, Allerton.

Five years ago, despite objections from the residents and against the advice of planning officers, councillors gave planning permission for a small cat boarding facility at 8 Rossmore Drive.

Jenny also had 19 pet cats of her own and is taking in stray and unwanted cats. She presently has 34 cats and kittens housed in her back garden, making a total of 53 cats on the premises.

Residents' complaints are that her 19 pets freely roam, causing nuisance and a health hazard in their gardens. Also the numerous car-borne callers bringing and collecting cats cause a loss of quiet enjoyment of their homes. Several black plastic bags of used cat litter left outside for collection every week attracts flies and gives off an awful smell.

When elected to Council I personally helped Jenny with problems she had at the Cat Rescue Centre and would so again. Every resident supports the work she is doing up there but all agree it should not overspill into a private residential house.

Councillor Valerie Binney, Park Hill Drive, Bradford 8.

l Editor's Note: This concludes the correspondence on this subject.

SIR - Earlier this year the T&A notified readers of a meeting to be held at SHAPE, Temple Street, Keighley, on June 28, to form a support group for parents of ADHD children.

With some knowledge of the cause/s of the condition, I attended that meeting. The guest speaker gave the impression that she was more concerned to promote Ritalin than to give information that would resolve the condition.

I offered to speak at the meeting and show a video of American scientists warning of several pharmaceutical and dietary products that can cause hyperactivity and lower intelligence of children.

I was subsequently told that the group was being formed so that parents could commiserate with each other rather than investigate the cause of their children's behaviour.

Should any parents who attended that meeting have seen a recent Sunday newspaper report concerning the banning of Ritalin for under-fives and wish to see the video, they can phone me on (01422) 844670.

Dennis Edmondson, Duck Hill, Pecket Well, Hebden Bridge.

SIR - There was only one piece of information missing from the article on Bradford Council giving up the lease on the Kirkgate Centre car park to Prudential (T&A, September 8). And that was how much more will the Council Tax-paying citizens of Bradford have to pay to park? Is this another step to drive customers away from the city centre?

John Largue, Kirk Drive, Baildon.

SIR - I had vainly hoped that the change in control at City Hall might herald a shift from the pro-bus, anti-motorist regime which the former chairman of the relevant committee appeared to have brought into the roads of Bradford.

Clearly I was wrong. The latest operations in Frizinghall Road and Keighley Road make the machinations of Councillor Darr seem quite sensible.

Who in their right mind devised the scheme? Reducing the width of the road, eliminating lanes and adding chicanes which would grace a Formula One racetrack seem destined to exacerbate the traffic problems.

I had thought that our new masters in City Hall might just have been more realistic in weighing the balance between public and private means of transport.

The chaos which has already occurred during the associated roadworks will no doubt add yet another reason to the gathering total of reasons for getting out of Bradford.

Anthony Simpson, Park Drive, Heaton.

SIR - My sympathies go out to Mr K Shaw (Letters, September 7). I agree with all he says. This Government, city councillors, and builders seem hell bent on covering England with concrete. Our English countryside is being ripped apart, to put on the most hideous pieces of junk I have ever seen.

Trees are being chopped down, green fields bulldozed up, and the wild life disappears.

What a legacy we are leaving for future generations: concrete jungles in which they will never hear a bird sing, nor will they have the pleasure of seeing one.

Some legacy and "all with a stroke of a pen".

Mrs B J Rudd, Roger Court, Undercliffe.