Sink your pride Leeds and come off the fence (From Wharfedale Observer)

Sink your pride Leeds and come off the fence

8:54am Thursday 24th May 2007

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SIR, - Last Thursday I attended the meeting at Otley Civic Centre. This was the most disorganised and unruly meeting I have attended.

I tried all night with my hand raised to voice my opinion but the chairman failed to respond. It did no justice to the WAG members who have done a brilliant job on behalf of the townspeople of Otley.

I have never known the townspeople of Otley be so united as they have been on this issue. During the meeting the lady on the top table spoke and one of her comments made the audience erupt.

There were shouts of we might as well go home'. I took it from this that the meeting was a mere formality. At the end of the meeting I concluded that come hell or high water, Leeds City Council are determined to erect iron monstrosities along the riverbank, so defacing this beautiful park set in the Wharfe Valley with the Chevin as a backdrop, where thousands of people have enjoyed these facilities past and present.

During my 84 years as a resident of Otley, I have never known of an accidental fatality. This is bureaucracy gone mad - so sink your pride Leeds, and come off the fence.

Mr S Ingleson 7 Myers Croft,Otley.

Signing off

SIR, - So far as I am aware, roadside advertisements, other than on hoardings in urban areas, are not permitted by the planners.

What exception to this rule allows a firm of solicitors to add its sign to that which welcomes the motorist to Otley on the A660? Are they twinned' with Otley? Do they sponsor' Otley?

There are no other advertisements (apart from those relating to properties adjacent to the road) on the predominantly rural A660 route between Ilkley and the outskirts of Leeds.

And, in relation to road (direction) signs, on the same stretch of road going west, there seems to be a plot to make it difficult to find the way into Burley. In our experience many travellers have driven beyond Burley, and even to Ilkley before realising that they have missed Burley altogether.

ANDREW WADE Burley Woodhead.

No bickering

SIR, - On the front page of the Wharfedale and Airedale Observer (May 10) there was a review of the local council election results, which included a quote attributed to Councillor Jim Spencer, referring to negative politics and petty bickering that have stifled progress in the town'.

This echoes sentiments expressed by myself and many others for a considerable number of years. If councillors, elected by the people of Otley, to work for the good of Otley, had spent more time doing this instead of involving themselves in petty party political squabbling, much of which has taken place in the columns of this newspaper, Otley would be a much better place to live!

You have only to look at a place like Wetherby, a town of similar size and character to Otley and also part of the Leeds Metropolitan area, to see what can be achieved with everybody working together.

They have a modern sports and leisure centre and none of the rundown and undeveloped areas that we have in Otley. With Leeds City Council officers, about to be swelled by a share of the airport sell-off' and by the sale of properties in Otley, now is the time for high pressure lobbying to get some of this money spent in Otley.

Funds for the renovation of the Civic Centre should not now be in question and the ex-Jeffries site on Westgate would be an ideal site for a sports and leisure centre. Also a fenceless riverside walk could be developed on the south side of the river. Both Jim Spencer and Colin Campbell have stated that this is the start of a new era and that the silly bickering should be consigned to history. As the Lib Dems control the council and as there is nobody left to bicker with, we hope they will live up to these statements.

After all, the Lib Dems were not completely blameless for what has gone on in the past.

Geoffrey Swift 2 Whiteley Croft Rise, Otley.

Under pressure

SIR, - I am sure I was not alone in being staggered to receive the rather grovelling apology from Councillor Cocklecarrot in which he promised to put our fears at rest, whilst telling us that he was still committed to putting in a fence of some description.

These letters went far and wide, to all signatories, including an elderly lady in Tunbridge Wells and a missionary in Papua New Guinea, both of whom had signed in a popular Otley butcher's shop under the mistaken impression they were enrolling in a raffle for a Christmas turkey.

Why, I wondered, did the council not just say they had made a boo-boo and apologise. Latest leaks from Leeds Bradford Airport and the Pentagon reveal that Leeds City Council has been under considerable pressure as the fence is part of the War Against Terror.

I'm sure all your readers will remember the unpleasant occurrence a couple of years ago when a group of Otley mothers were waiting in the park for a suitable moment to fling their surplus children into the river, as is the local custom, when a swan was fiercely attacked by a couple of geese, who first battered and then drowned it.

It seems all was not as straight forward as it appeared, as the swan was in fact CIA Specialist Agent Cyrus Q Schnortenfester III, who had been genetically modified to resemble a swan in order to keep watch on several geese known to have flown in from Afghanistan and thought to be planning an armed airborne attack on the US installations at Menwith Hill.

The two geese were flown to a Middle Eastern destination together with several suspected ducks and a couple of water hens where they were subjected to intense investigation.

Acting on intelligence received following these investigations the area received a secret visit from two important individuals, Mr Dick Chainsaw, American Deputy President of Vice, and Ms Constipation Rice, US Secretary of State for Puffings.

Mr Chainsaw was previously the Chief Executive of Halitosis International, a firm which has made great profits from work alleged to have been carried out in Iraq and rumoured to be linked to Guantanamo Bay Lighting and Fencing, already working in the town.

John Blashill 12 Mount Pisgah, Otley.

No real delay

SIR, - I read with disbelief your article reporting a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses that claimed 'one third of small businesses in West Yorkshire preferred flying from Manchester rather than travel to Yeadon along 'congested roads'.

As a frequent user of both airports, I can safely say that I have never been delayed by more than a few minutes travelling to Yeadon from Wharfedale, whereas the journey to Manchester Airport via the M62 or M65/M66 and then M60 and M56 is often a nightmare of congestion - particularly around the M60 exit to M56.

I realise if you survey businesses in 'far' West Yorkshire towns such as Halifax or Huddersfield the equation might be a little different, but from Leeds, Bradford and Wharfedale towns, Yeadon is far more accessible.

The real reason why West Yorkshire business people might prefer to use Manchester is the much greater choice of direct flights to European business centres, and the far more competitive fares offered by airlines flying from Manchester. Before BMI discontinued the Leeds/Bradford to Paris service earlier this year their typical fares were often more than double the fare from Manchester.

The best news for West Yorkshire business travellers is the growing number of cities served by Jet2 from Yeadon, with reliably cheap fares, convenient on-line check-in and good reliability.

Mark Kerr Langbar,Ilkley.

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