This is inevitable result of plans to build 800 houses in Ilkley

Many children already in primary school will not be allowed to go to Ilkley Grammar. Commuters will face longer journey times to work and back.

Peak-time train users will be more likely to have to stand. Journeys from one end of Ilkley to the other will be slower. Parking in town and on the residential streets around the centre will be harder to find. Sports facilities, from gyms to football pitches, will be over-stretched. It will be more difficult to see your doctor.

Flooding delays, like the recent one on the A65 between Menston and Burley, will be more disruptive. Green fields will be lost and natural habitats adversely affected.

All these are the inevitable results of Bradford MDC plans to build at least 800 houses in Ilkley, causing a population increase of about 20 per cent, while the infrastructure will not be improved to match.

They are reasonable projections based on information and statistics which there is not room to publish here but which were discussed at the Civic Society meeting last week and the public meeting last night.

The building of 800 houses is not inevitable.

It is not too late to comment on the Local Plan and attempt to bring about a reduction in the number of houses to be built.

For six weeks from the middle of February the public are permitted to do so. The more who comment in a sensible way, the more successful the comments will be. I would encourage everyone, especially those in the 25-50 age range whose lives, and whose children’s lives, are most likely to be affected in the future, to start thinking about this now and be prepared to submit comments.

Watch for information in this paper and elsewhere about how to do so. An easy source of information now is benrhydding.org, created by one of the many groups fighting on behalf of Wharfedale residents.

Stephen Butley, Ilkley

How could forum be the basis for elected body?

I read with interest Councillor Latty’s letter on the merits or otherwise of a Guiseley Parish council.

A confusing letter in that he is advising against it but will support it if it should come to pass!

Is this the same councillor who in the last 12 months welcomed Rawdon’s new parish council and ‘looked forward to Guiseley following suit’. (I paraphrase but I think this represents his view at that time.) He refers in his letter to the Neighbourhood Forum, which ‘has consulted widely’ and ‘could become the basis for an elected body’.

I am not sure about the wide consultation because I suspect most Guiseley residents would not support this statement, and as for his assertion that it could become the basis for an elected body, I am afraid I am at a loss to understand how.

If we, the people of Guiseley, decide, after being consulted by Leeds City Council, that we need a parish council, then we would choose our representatives through the ballot box in the normal way.

This would certainly not preclude members of the Neighbourhood Forum standing for election but this would be far from the forum becoming ‘the basis of an elected body’. In deciding whether a parish council would be right for Guiseley, I would suggest that the experience of two long-established local town councils, Otley and Ilkley, should be considered.

In my opinion both have made significant contributions to their towns even though, or perhaps despite of, also having councillors for their respective city councils.

Terry Baines, Guiseley

At that point, there was no alternative to parish council

Parish or Neighbourhood Forum? I am sure you do not wish to carry on this correspondence too long but I would like to be allowed to respond to a main point in Mr David Bowes’s letter this week.

He points out that I have expressed support for a parish for all Aireborough. That is true, I did, and two years ago I supported a parish for Rawdon.

At that point in time there was no alternative to a Parish/Town Council. The Neighbourhood Forum was not yet formed and there was a need to focus on the problems Rawdon was facing from the Strategic Housing Land Assesment in the shape of a threat that the billing could be classed as building land. Local people wanted to be involved, they wanted to make sure they were heard. They wanted a local, vocal body to fight these dangerous proposals, and a parish was the quickest way to go about it.

Were the same situation to arise today , and the Aireborough Neighbourhood Forum was not at the stage it is now, I would do the same again.

But, time has moved on and we have what I think is a much better way of moving forward.

Mr Bowes says that a forum could not spend money locally; no it could not but neither would it increase the council tax people would pay through the precept a parish council would have to levy in order to have anything to spend .

Councillor Graham Latty, Conservative Chief Whip

Cold and wet – but people are warm and welcoming

For family reasons we decided to spend our leave from southern Africa in Otley and in mid-January. It has been cold and wet but the town and its people have been warm and welcoming.

We have as usual been impressed by the cleanliness of the streets and the neatness of the public parks and gardens. The library is always a hive of activity and essential for visitors with internet needs, although it is good to see how many cafes and pubs offer this facility.

We like the Core, the new central town offices. What an attractive, accessible feature for everyone and a pleasant workplace. It is good to see the refurbished public toilets, well-patronised by locals and visitors alike. Shops big and small, an array of cafes and pubs all seemed bright and busy and so convenient to local transport, we were also pleased to see how the Courthouse is patronised.

In all, still a lovely town well worth a visit. Congratulations to all those who work so hard to keep all the services going.

Mr K Dixon, Harare, Zimbabwe

The new smooth surface will only increase speed

While I am totally in favour of the Tour de France coming through Yorkshire and Otley, coupled with the news that Cross Green will be resurfaced, it appears that nothing will be done to reduce ‘rat running’ on Side Copse and Crow Lane in Otley whilst the work is ongoing. The speeding issue of Pool Road and Cross Green is claimed to be a local priority; I see little action being taken to actually reduce it.

The new smooth surface will, I imagine only increase the speed. I have tackled the local councillors on both these issues often and written on your letters page, but all tends to fall on deaf ears. As traffic volumes increase this is an issue that just won’t go away. How long before there’s an accident or is this what would cause some action to be taken? Time to block it off before the one way system is introduced on Walkergate/Charles Street.

Dan Lebath, Side Copse, Otley

The centre provides a focal point for play and learning

Bradford Council proposes to reduce funding for children’s centres in the outlying areas, so I organised an electronic petition and a paper petition to oppose this action, the result being that 120 persons signed the e-petition and 544 signed the paper petition. Thank you to everyone who supported this and the other petitions.

For those unaware, the Burley and Menston Children’s Centre is located at the Kirklands Community Centre, Main Street, Menston, and is a wonderfully-designed annexe attached to the village library. It provides a focal point for parents, babies, young children and carers to get together to play and learn, promote good practice, encourage participation and improve confidence and well being in both parents and children. The proposed changes will particularly impact upon vulnerable families and those children with identified special needs.

Along with one of the mothers, who will be greatly affected if the proposed changes are introduced, I presented the petition at the council meeting on Tuesday, January 21, along with petitioners for seven other areas where their children’s centres will be similarly affected. It was accepted by the council meeting that this number of petitions was unprecedented.

A short debate was held, following which a decision on the petitions was referred for further discussion at the Council’s budgetary meeting on Thursday, February 20.

During the debate it was revealed that £3 million of extra money had been released by the Schools Forum from the Designated School Grant which could be used to off-set the impact of some of the proposed changes. Watch this space!

Gerald Barker, chairman, Burley-Menston Conservative Association

How long will it be before fly-tipping is a way of life?

In the ‘olden days’ (2013) we had a black bin collection every week. In our ‘new improved modern times’ we will get one every other week (that’s reduced from at least 50 to 25).

As it was bins were often full with a bag left with the bin.

Now it is full after one week and the second week the only alternative is to jump up and down in the bin to get more in or put out more bags of rubbish with the bin.

The council seem to be moaning that the bins are too heavy and we are leaving bags out. Are they really surprised?

Are we to pile the bags in the park or set fire to the contents communally?

The ‘bulk waste’ collection is being reduced from 13 to three. Really?

How long will it be before fly-tipping is a way of life?

Perhaps I’ve to catch a bus with extra bags of rubbish and take it to the tip myself?

I never knew 2013 was going to be the ‘good old days’ for rubbish.

Jacqueline Francis, Meagill Rise, Weston Estate, Otley

More could have been done to inform passengers of bus service cuts

“Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie, O, what a panic's in thy breastie!”

Quite appropriate that the last bus to Bradford (no 963) was on Saturday (Burns' Night). I can’t help wondering when Metro is going to get round to telling us, the passengers. Were they afraid of causing a riot? Or did they just not bother? Presumably they don’t put much store in client communication.

To rub salt in the wound, I turned up for my usual alternative 11.05am bus to Shipley from Otley (653) this morning, only to discover, after waiting in the wet and cold, that that too had been cut, and there are now only three of those buses a day, at 6.20am, 4.10pm and 6.15pm. There was no advance warning on the buses or at bus-stops, and no new timetables available in any of the libraries, visitors centres or rail stations that I went to. In fact they all had piles of the out-dated timetables for both bus routes that had been delivered in the past month.

Last week I went to the meeting in Ilkley on Bradford’s Local Plan and one of the most contentious issues was that of pressure of increased traffic as a result of the proposed new housing. Surely this is a time, especially with all the dire warnings of global warming, when more emphasis should be put on investing in and improving reliable and affordable public transport, not cutting it.

Anyone else ready for the barricades?

Lynne Faulkes, Burley-in-Wharfedale