WITH the new century only weeks old Ilkley Parish Council appears determined to live in the past.

Bradford Council has long been the focus for councillors' wrath - whether it be litter, dog fouling, planning or (deep breath) toilets. This week, the anger led to Bradford being accused of treating Ilkley with 'contempt'.

Bradford-bashing is a popular pastime for councillors but at some stage we have to ask ourselves, what real good does it do?

Of course, Ilkley's toilets are not in an acceptable state, and, yes, improvements may have been promised months, if not years ago. The sad reality is that life just isn't fair. Year after year, the same arguments are put forward. Bradford should do this, Bradford should do that.

Yes, Bradford probably should. However, Bradford probably hasn't and probably won't. One councillor stood up on Monday evening and said the time was right for Ilkley to critically examine its future role into the 21st century.

This was a breath of fresh air. Let's face it, Ilkley Parish Council has the power to raise funds through a precept to get the things it wants done. However, 'precept' seems a taboo word to certain councillors - they feel it is double rating.

Yes, paying for services twice is unfair, but is it realistic to bury our heads in the sand forever? At present, parish councillors have the luxury of being able to talk big without fear of having to take any action.

That is not to detract from the amount of work councillors do carry out, but when it comes to the crunch they are powerless to shape Ilkley's destiny. Maybe the time has come for our elected parish members to take a little more responsibility.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.