SIR – Over the years, I have watched, sometimes awestruck, at many of the decisions made by Bradford councillors and planners.

It is sad to relate that most of these decisions have served to drag this once-great city further and further down. One only needs to look towards the Grade 2-listed Manningham Mills to see the evidence of that.

My earliest recollection, however, was the wholesale destruction of the arcades and markets in favour of 1960s concrete barbarism.

Later, when traders began to close their premises and desert the city in droves, did the Council conduct any sort of ‘exit polls’ to learn any whys and wherefores from the experience?

Of course not. They would have, perhaps, had to address some pretty unpalatable truths.

Surely it was this desperate lack of intelligence which caused the Council to blunder into the ill-fated Westfield scheme, when a little prior knowledge would have informed them that the majority of those shopkeepers who had left Bradford would not be coming back.

Now, it seems we are to have a reduced shopping centre, so hurray for that, but hold on – within days of the announcement, we are informed that, in anticipation of the hordes of shoppers, Bradford is to employ twice as many traffic wardens! Barking! Christopher Hindle, Osterley Grove, Bradford