ENVIRONMENTAL groups find it every so easy to fall into the trap of being accused of being negative most of the time.

The Wharfedale Environmental Trust (WET) may quite rightly point out that the site chosen for Ilkley's new All Saints Primary School is the home of the rare wood spurge, but have they suggested anywhere else the school might go?

Ilkley children are badly in need of a new school and the former railway land is considered by many to be the ideal location.

WET treasurer John Robinson says that there are precious few green spaces in left in Ilkley. However, compared to other parts of the Bradford district, the town is blessed with an abundance of countryside, mostly within walking distance of the centre.

So-called brown field sites, where industry has disappeared after many years, are ideal locations for new building, but in Ilkley they are probably just as rare as the hairy wood spurge, yellow vetch, purple willowherb and bee orchids.

If as WET members say, they are sympathetic to the parents of children badly in need of new school accommodation, perhaps they could come up with an alternative building plot which has the added attraction of already being owned by the local authority.

There may be many, but in the real world of economic development, few will be affordable to a council's education service which is chronically cash-strapped.

Everywhere in Ilkley is home to some rare species or other - although it would be interesting to know just how many people often take a trip down to the Skipton Road site to view the delights of the hairy wood spurge - but the fact is that the new primary school has to be built somewhere.

The environment should concern us all, but doesn't everyone also have a duty to be constructive?

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