I READ with dismay in your edition dated January 1 that Leeds City Council are once again seeking to restrict access to waste disposal sites to Leeds residents only. This situation applied some years ago until common sense finally prevailed, petty turf wars were put aside and the sites were opened up to the public at large.

As a Bradford resident living less than 400 metres from Leeds’ Ellar Ghyll tip, this means that I and hundreds like me will be expected to make a round trip of at least 12 miles to a Bradford tip when we have an identical facility within walking distance. The obvious and inevitable consequences will be reduced recycling, increased fly-tipping and fleets of vehicles making unnecessary journeys with all the attendant negative effects on the environment.

This is not to point the finger only at Leeds Council. If, as they allege, Bradford and other local authorities restrict the use of their own waste facilities, then the solution must be for higher authority such as our local MPs to bang heads together until they all see the error of their ways. Any minimal net savings made by one individual authority at the expense of another must be more than outweighed by the cost of regulation and policing, eg the issue of car stickers.

Council tax payers are not interested in playground squabbling between local authorities.

We just want to do our civic duty by disposing of our rubbish cleanly, sensibly and at minimum cost to ourselves, the public purse and the environment.

Bernard Thornton Ellar Gardens, Menston