SIR – Regarding the closure (by flood) of the A65 at Menston, it might reasonably have been expected, I think, that having had the road blocked, a car winched out and the emergency services in attendance, Bradford Council would have cleared the drains on the A65 to prevent this happening again.

However, I have walked the length of Burley Road, from The Fox roundabout to the turning into Endor Crescent, and it is apparent that only the half dozen drains and gullies immediately adjacent to the flooding have been cleared.

Bradford Council is in possession of a geological report from the developers who want to build on Derry Hill and Bingley Road which states that the area is unsuitable for housing and unsustainable because of underground springs and water sources.

Yet, they passed the planning permission without allowing councillors sight of the evidence.

What’s wrong with these people that they can’t see the obvious? The reason the fields in Menston have remained open fields for all these years is that the previous generations of planners knew the situation and took account of the facts.

We’ve now got people in so-called authority who either don’t know or don’t care.

Alan D Elsegood, vice-chairman, Menston Community Association, Menston