The news about Chris Greaves in last week’s Gazette, along with the rumour that Anne Hawkesworth will also stand down when her term of office is up, will leave this area bereft of two doughty independent-minded champions.

We may not have seen eye to eye on most issues but Chris certainly sees through most of the drivel which passes for planning policy as it applied to this area.

It is also welcome that he has signed off with such a scathing indictment of the Tory party’s attitude to this vital area of policy.

The account of local Tories’ attitude as a “mix of tacit and explicit” approval of planning policies certainly chimes with my own. I have been saying for some time that their approach to the current development plan in the shape of the Council’s Core Strategy (which after all started under their auspices) is one of crying crocodile tears – all condemnation in public but no doubt rubbing hands in private at the political advantage it will bring them.

However, he is a little short of the mark when he describes the national attitude as one of merely laissez-faire. The present National Planning Policy Framework was literally produced by a committee of five which had four national volume house-builders on it as far as I can make out.

Small wonder then that local plans end up targeting easy-build, exceptionally profitable green belt land. So when folk locally criticise Bradford they really need to see the villain behind the piece holding a gun to their head.

Finally can I thank all those who helped distribute the Ben Rhydding Action Group (BRAG) guidance leaflet and shortened version of the comment form last week and those who responded to it. Hopefully it was a useful addition to the efforts of other groups who have made a contribution to the campaign against the current plans.

Sandy MacPherson Wheatley Lane, Ilkley