Letters to the Editor

Recently I returned to Keighley with my American wife and half American/half Yorkshire six month old son.

The purpose of my trip was to visit family members who were unable to attend my recent wedding State side.

On my last visit to keighley, in september 1998, I had a great time showing the beautiful sites of the local area to my wife.

However, on arrival in Keighley over the Christmas period, I noticed a significant decline in the fortunes of the town. I had never seen so many shops going out of business, and the mood of the town seemed to be different.

It was also a little disconcerting to hear about the bloke who is attacking women, several hundred yards away from where my parents live.

I know Keighley has always had its rough element, but I don't remember anything as bad as this.

When did Keighley become such a drug town? I read your web site frequently and all I read about is heroin, crack cocaine etc, etc.

Although I am not likely to return to Yorkshire to live for quite some time (it is a dream of mine to retire here), it saddens me deeply to see the state of the town, and I am wondering what efforts are being made to make the town a more safer and vibrant place in which to live.

In my day as a Keighley lad I don't remember things being quite so bad.

Mark L Storton

SIR - The school re-organisation shambles continues.

We are now eight months from the start of the new two tier education system and still the portable building is the only new accommodation available to many schools - 700 portable buildings are now being used in Bradford.

I now understand that building will not start until at least August. That's a month to modify 200 schools!

Following the council mis-calculating the re-organisation budget by nearly 50 per cent, Bradford and District now has a shortfall £47 million.

Labour, having told the council's senior management to re-apply for their jobs, now face a mass exodus from the education department.

By April, unwilling to continue working under the leadership of Labour's Cllr Rooney, the school re-organisation will have no senior management offering continuity.

Then there is the school staff: 250 teachers and 350 non-teaching staff have still to find a school place for September. Imagine the outcry if a company announced the redundancy of 600 employees - well, it's about to happen in Bradford council.

A generation of Bradford's children are having their education compromised by a Labour council that has lost the plot. A Labour council that, after 10 years of power, sits firmly on the bottom of every national education table.

I want to know the true building timetable, I want to know the consequence of the £47m shortfall, and I want the immediate resignation of Cllr Rooney before the impending education management exodus begins.

CLLR KRIS HOPKINS,

Oakworth Grange,

Oakworth.

SIR - I last wrote to you to ask if you, through your paper, could help as regards a road grate that was causing distress, to say the least.

An official from the Water Board arrived on January 5 and told me that he had passed the matter on to the Highways people.

Then on January 11 the deed was done, at last peace reigns.

I am very grateful to you for your assistance.

I FEATHER,

Oakworth Road,

Keighley.

SIR - Cllr Leathley is a very good party politician, especially when it comes to avoiding the issues I had raised in previous letters.

Therefore I will ask the following questions that only require a yes or no answer.

Is it true that no housing regeneration programme has been formalised for the Bradford district?

Is it true that the rural areas within Bradford's authority are to receive a disproportionate number of housing units in this area compared to Bradford urban area?

Is it true that Cllr Leathley has stated that he will consider planning applications bearing in mind local opinions, if so does that mean that the majority of the public view will now prevail in planning matters?

Is it true that he voted for the past UDP in Bradford City Hall with his colleagues?

Does Cllr Leathley support Ann Cryer; our MP for Keighley, when she stated in parliament that part of this district should never have been earmarked for housing?

If he does support our Member of Parliament will he now put pressure on those Bradford officials who are drawing up the next UDP to cancel the further use of green field sites as building sites?

Would he agree that when the public voted in this present government we had not expected that New Labour would allow old Conservative policies to prevail, or for local New Labour councillors to force through such scandalous measures?

I have many more such questions, but these I will put to the now highly paid local party politicians during the May elections.

MRS RUTH BLACKMAN,

Prince Street,

Haworth.

SIR - Chivalry is indeed still with us here in Haworth! Quite recently I was getting on a bus at the top of Haworth and found I hadn't enough small change and the bus driver couldn't change a note.

I was about to get off the bus when this gallant young man from the back of the bus called out - I'll pay!

Splendid I thought, with renewed hope of our young today. Thank you.

C SHIPLEY,

Laburnum Grove,

Lees, Cross Roads.

SIR - For years the British public have been brainwashed into believing that speed is of itself dangerous by the constant repetition of the mantra 'speed kills' so it is perhaps not unsurprising that Brian Gregory's letter on road safety generated a hostile response, but what a contrast between the measured tone of Gregory's letter and the supercilious observations of Messrs Speller and Andrews.

It is absurd to claim, as George Speller does, that the Ramblers association have either the expertise or the impartiality to make a disinterested judgement on who is to blame for RTAs involving pedestrians and his casual dismissal of cause would be laughable if the subject were not so serious.

How are future accidents to be avoided if the real causes of past accidents are ignored.

And what value can we place on the judgement of NA Andrews, a man who first rubbishes inconvenient statistics before going on to quote more from the same stable, who pours scorn on his adversary for parading his qualifications before adding Dr to his own name.

Who, when faced with the statistic that in traffic accidents involving the death or serious injury of a pedestrian the main responsibility lay with the pedestrian in 84% of the cases, seeks to justify yet more restrictions on the motorist rather than education of the pedestrian or segregation where possible.

I do not know whether Brian Gregory has been partisan in the way he presented the TRL statistics or about the probity of those statistics but at least one of the reports (S211) in which NA Andrews puts his trust is irredeemably flawed.

As a Doctor NA Andrews should know that unless an illness is correctly diagnosed there is very little chance of applying the appropriate cure. Speed limits are not a cure, at best they are a palliative that disguises the symptoms of a host of other driver deficiencies.

At worst they positively encourage mediocre driving. If the desired end result is responsible and capable drivers then drivers must be allowed to exercise their own judgement more often when conditions are easy so that when conditions change they are alert enough to notice and experienced enough to cope.

Roger Chapman

Clay Hall Farm

Thwaites Brow Road

SIR - We have been residents of the Highfield area of Keighley for the past 20 years.

We have always taken an interest in the neighbourhood but during the last few years we have become disillusioned by recent events, eg. The amount of rubbish in Highfield Lane.

The smashed phone boxes and general decline of the area.

Two family members being threatened by youths congregating in Highfield Lane.

We then decided to attend the local neighbourhood forum, only to find the meeting packed with people all relating similar incidents.

Family members, male and female, being threatened or accosted by gangs of youths.

Gangs of youths gathered around the entrance to Devonshire Park, spitting and hurling abuse at people trying to enter the park with young children.

Gangs of youths congregating in the bowling green at 5am in the morning.

An elderly woman attacked in Highfield Lane in daylight.

Teenage girls assaulted in Devonshire Park.

The worst was yet to come, a house was firebombed and it took the police one week to respond to the call. The list is endless.

Also worrying is the fact that the police are aware that certain gangs are frequenting town centre clubs carrying weapons.

At one time it used to be a crime to carry an offensive weapon.

We left the meeting totally disillusioned about the future. Although we welcome the input of the Regeneration Budget we fail to see how this can improve the environment when the majority of the population are afraid to venture outside - even in daylight.

5 HIGHFIELD RESIDENTS.

SIR - I think its disgusting that the people of Keighley had to pay £4,000 by collecting this money to pay for a plaque for the cenotaph, for the men and women who died in two world wars.

How could Bradford council be so mean and selfish not to have paid considering the amount money that they collect from our towns.

Of course some people can get grants of £30-40 thousand pounds, if not more, also £4million pounds which will be spent in Keighley.

That money could have gone to the NHS for more beds .

You must be better off if you are a murderer. You get a bed, have an operation and three day's treatment.

I am glad we didn't have the same councillors and MPs sixty years ago, or the same sort of people like the government otherwise the Germans would have thought it a walk over.

J MAWSON

address supplied

SIR - Re the closure of Ingrow Green Residential Home. It was stated in the Keighley News last week that the home is a fire hazard and will not meet future fire regulations so will close. Can Bradford council assure me that all private sector residential and nursing homes in the area will be able to comply with these regulations.

As the 29 residents now at Ingrow Green who will have to leave their home, friends and the wonderful staff who care for them, will have no option but to move into private homes as no other council home is available in Keighley.

It might interest your readers that several council homes in Bradford have been modernised and refurbished. Ing-row Green was bottom of the list and now there is no money to improve it so Keighley loses out yet again.

The other reason given was conditions for staff were not ideal. I am sure if the staff were able to give their opinion they would prefer a job in less than perfect conditions than no work.

This closure will also result in the loss of five respite beds which are a life-line for people caring for partners and relatives 24 hours a day. When they reach breaking point or are ill themselves, will there be any respite beds available in Keighley?

If money had been spent in the past on routine maintenance and upkeep at Ingrow Green maybe we would not now be in this terrible situation.

J PRESTON,

Highfield Road, Keighley.

SIR - 'Another Good Reason' is the message from The Stroke Association for No Smoking Day.

The charity is urging readers to reduce their chance of having a stroke by stubbing out their cigarettes for good as part of the annual day.

A lot of people think only of cancer as a health risk associated with smoking, but a quarter of all strokes, this country's single biggest cause of death and disability are directly caused by smoking.

Smokers are three times more likely to suffer a stroke than non-smokers and the charity is hoping that the first No Smoking Day of the millennium, on Wednesday March 8, will provide an ideal opportunity for people to kick the habit.

As well as smokers being at a higher risk of having a stroke, new research also shows there is a link between passive smoking and stroke.

SUE KNIGHT,

The Stroke Association,

SIR - I am writing on behalf of Action Research - one of the UK's leading medical research charities - to appeal to readers of your newspaper to support the Pot of Gold Coffee Party between April 10-15, 2000. My support of Action Research stems from its vital research work into the pregnancy condition pre-eclampsia - a life threatening condition that nearly killed my daughter during her pregnancy.

A raffle will be held at every Pot of Gold Coffee Party with the prize being a Classic Paddington Bear.

The name of every winner of the Paddington Bear will then be entered into a grand draw for a holiday for two in Monte Carlo.

Call the hotline today to register your interest on 01403 327446 or e-mail pog@action research.co.uk.

DAVID BATTIE,

Action Research.

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