Town character is unique and must be preserved

This clearly demonstrates Leeds City Council are not acting in the best interests of the community.

In Otley our head teachers have raised their concerns at the current shortage of school places and this will get even worse once the Garnetts site and Otley Hospital site developments become populated with more families.

So why on earth does Leeds City Council think we need another 1,177 houses in Otley, a 20 per cent increase in our population?

No parent wants to be forced to send their child to a school miles away. Also 2,000 more cars on our roads would increase pollution and traffic on our already congested roads, increasing the danger to our children walking and cycling to school. Not to mention the huge loss of green fields as a result of this over-development.

I am not against development; however it needs to be in proportion to what the infrastructure of a small market town can cope with and be on brown field sites.

Leeds City Council must not be allowed to destroy our ‘historic market town’ by concreting over our Irish fields on the East of Otley site with an enormous housing estate and industry.

The appeal of Otley is our semi-rural location. How many tourists will want to visit when they’ll have to drive around our grid-locked roads, looking for a non-existent parking space. The character of our town is unique and needs to be preserved.

I strongly urge Otley residents to use their voice to stop this insanity before it is too late, by signing the e-petition of the Otley Development Disgrace group: http://tinyurl.com/poauxp2.

For more information: https://www.facebook.com/groups/veryodd/

Cathy Theaker, Old St Clair Road, Otley

Further problems created by station parking charges

I am deeply concerned by the proposals to introduce parking charges at our area’s train stations. (Wharfedale Observer, 28 February).

I have written to the Transport Secretary setting out my opposition to the plans and requesting that he reconsiders, particularly with regard to any charges at Guiseley, Horsforth, and Menston Stations.

In the case of Guiseley, it is worth saying that the only car park that could be affected would be the station car park itself, not what is known locally as the ‘clock car park’.

But introducing charges at any of these stations would merely displace cars elsewhere, creating problems in residential areas and back streets as people look to avoid the charges and park in areas that are already under severe strain due to lack of parking provision. Parking in Guiseley works on a fine balance of length of stay and would be greatly disrupted by the charging proposals.

An alternative possibility is that people will simply look to avoid public transport altogether as the cost becomes ever more prohibitive. At a time when we are trying to encourage people to use public transport, get cars off the road and reduce the amount of traffic on hugely congested roads like the A65, parking charges will merely increase the likelihood of people choosing to drive directly into the city centre.

In any event, the cumulative impact of these problems means that the proposals probably wouldn’t raise the revenue required anyway, as people look to avoid the charges one way or another. I can appreciate the need to find efficiencies in the franchise, but introducing parking charges is not the way to do it.

Councillor Paul Wadsworth, Guiseley and Rawdon Ward

Volunteers should staff the Manor House to save it

Regarding the future of the Manor House, Ilkley.

In order to save it from destruction if left empty may I suggest that the Friends of the Manor House, the Olicana Museum Society join forces and act to staff it between them voluntarily.

Bradford Council should take care of the maintenance. If the Manor House is left empty it will be vandalised and that would be a disgrace.

Esme Greenwood, Westville Road, Ilkley

So pleased that voices of families have been heard

As the co-chairman of the Menston and Burley Children’s Centre I would like to say how pleased we are that the voice of families in our area have been heard and that our centre will be able to keep on offering valuable services to the local community for the foreseeable future.

As your readers will be aware, the threat of virtual closure has been hanging over us for the past four months.

We now have 12 months to prove that the centre can run effectively with less support from the local authority.

Exciting and challenging times are ahead. Many thanks to all the readers of the Wharfedale and Aireborough Observer and the Ilkley Gazette who signed the petition against the scaling down of Menston and Burley Children’s Centre services.

Heather Norreys, Voluntary co-chairman of the Menston and Burley Children’s Centre

Classic cars can give clues to pinpointing bygone days

I have been an avid reader of the Gazette and the Wharfedale Observer since I was a child growing up in the mid-Wharfe valley after the last war.

I have both featured in articles as well as contributions over the years when I was a local councillor during the 1970s and more recently through my membership of the Rotary Club of Ilkley.

I am always fascinated by your archive photos and would comment on the one in your February 13 edition as follows: The photo shows a view of Brook Street in Ilkley looking to the west. I am a great fan of classic cars and have great fun identifying them when they feature in the Gazette. You state the photo is undated but perhaps by looking at the parked cars in the foreground we might be able to have a guess?

Working from left to right the first car is an ultra-rare Ford Cortina Mark 3 two-door. The next is either an MG 1300 or possibly a Wolseley variant (badge engineering as it was called was very common in those days). The vehicle furthest right is also a rare two-door Ford Cortina Mark 1.

This body shell was used for their very successful sporting variants developed by racing car manufacturer Lotus or the factory developed Cortina GT. From the photo the car is certainly not a Lotus variant and I cannot make out the distinctive GT badges that were attached to the rear wing of the GT variant, so it is more than likely to be what was referred to by Ford as a ‘base’ model (read ‘cheap’).

Looking at the cars in the car park I can identify a 1950s Austin A30 and the rear view of a Land Rover but the others are too vague to be accurate.

Other clues as to date are that the shot was obviously taken after the railway was taken down although it appears that the old embankment is in place at the far and of the car park. Similarly the Clark Foley Centre has yet to be built, as has the Moors Shopping Centre.

Incidentally the shop partially obscured by the tree was a menswear shop specialising in gentlemen’s ‘country wear’.

I was always fascinated by his window display which featured old tree branches in and amongst the posh tweed jackets and cavalry twills with stuffed birds and small animals mounted on them.

As far as a date is concerned it is definitely the 1970s and I would hang my hat at somewhere around 1975. Anybody else have any ideas?

Peter Settle