In recognition of commitment and hard work

The small team of volunteers together with Bradford Council staff do us all a great service in keeping Ilkley so florally beautiful and free of litter all the year round. This is not achieved without a high level of personal commitment and hard work by all concerned. Thank you so much for all that you do.

Tony Gilroy

Heath Park, Ilkley

Better to go back to the drawing board for new school

What sense Peter Higginbotham (Gazette Letters, September 10) and J Wilson (September 17) talk. And how far removed are Councillor Kelly’s remarks that if the new school build cannot be seen then that should allay all other concerns.

The other problems still remain – loss of green belt land, loss of livelihood for the farm, transport, numbers and, what does not seem to have been given adequate consideration, environmental issues.

The planners said, as reported in this paper, that they had not received sufficient documentation for them to consider properly the planning application. It is likely that what they were referring to was an environmental survey.

In summer 2008, Network Rail carried out a survey of the proposed site because they were concerned about the stability of the railway embankment because of insufficient drainage of the water courses that run downhill through those fields. They undertook some drainage work to shore up the embankment at that time. However building on that land would disrupt the water table and the drainage, especially so if the school were to be built into the ground to accommodate sight lines as Coun Kelly suggests.

Additionally, the school playground area was planned right next to the embankment which begs the question of what would happen, should there be a landslip!

It is disingenuous to believe that because the Tesco proposal has been rejected, all our objections to a new grammar school in Ben Rhydding can be overcome and overruled. It would be far better to go back to the drawing board and produce imaginative plans for an enlarged school easily accessible in the centre of Ilkley and accommodate a new hospital on a different site.

Sheila Wright

Cheltenham Avenue, Ben Rhydding

WaW initiative is about walking for everyone

Oh dear, I had hoped to stay out of the paper for a while! However, I must reply to Frazer Irwin’s unhelpful and inaccurate letter (Gazette Letters, September 24) because I feel I am the un-named accused. In this letter I do not speak for anyone else connected with Walkers are Welcome (WaW).

I didn’t accuse Mr Irwin of not liking walkers. His reaction, when I first told him many months ago that we were going to work towards getting Ilkley WaW status, was extremely negative. He declined to add his signature of support to the 300-plus we collected. Therefore when I met him recently and he made mention of the WaW initiative I made the throwaway remark that he didn’t really approve – did he? The rest of his letter seems to confirm that impression.

He mentions the need to make walking routes safe. Had Mr Irwin cared to investigate he would see that one of the criteria we had to satisfy to attain WaW status is to “take action to ensure that footpaths and facilities for walkers are maintained in good condition”. The council’s countryside and rights of way service (Crow) already does a great job within its limited budget to protect and maintain recorded public footpaths and bridleways. It achieves this with the co-operation of already established local voluntary organisations in the Ilkley area, including the Lower Wharfedale Ramblers and Friends of Ilkley Moor (FOIM). The groups identify and report issues in need of attention on local public rights of way and carry out practical works in partnership with Crow and landowners. All these bodies have supported Ilkley’s WaW application and we will be working with them to keep our accredition. However, to suggest that Welcome to Walkers (sic) might be able to wave a magic wand and upgrade the Hebers Ghyll path is preposterous. As for the “distant” footpath that has already been upgraded, I can only assume that Mr Irwin means the path to the Swastika Stone near my house. If so, that work was paid for by the FOIM and carried out in co-operation with the countryside service. Hence it had absolutely nothing to do with WaW. If Mr Irwin does not approve of how the FOIM choose to spend the money they have worked so hard to raise he is entitled like the rest of us to make representation to their committee and put forward his point of view. He might even like to join if he hasn’t already done so!

The WaW initiative is not about encouraging ramblers with walking boots and rucksacks to come to Ilkley and tramp all over the moor. It is about walking for everyone, local residents or visitors, all ages and abilities, whether it be around the town, along the riverbank, in the woods or on the moor. Our launch day programme of guided walks reflected this. One of my personal goals for the coming year is to liaise with the council’s relevant departments to achieve a truly accessible riverside walk for wheelchair (and buggy) users.

On the subject of loose change, I always carry some while I’m walking but in my experience money of any kind is usually welcomed by hard pressed shops!

Heather Parry

Westwood Rise, Ilkley

Will would-be MP share his secrets with voters?

Last week my postman delivered two identical copies of Action for Keighley and Ilkley.

The prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Conservatives and present BMC councillor was pictured smiling on the front of the two-page newspaper. No wonder! He has reason to smile, because apparently Kris Hopkins managed to get his mail shot delivered free, to every home in the Keighley/ Ilkley Constituency. This fact was written on each copy. My hard-pressed postie apparently delivered it “for love”!

I would really like to know how Kris achieved this, as it suggests commendable, if uncharacteristic, thrift on his part.

However, I can’t help being a little concerned about this achievement. Does it suggest that Kris might have a hidden agenda not yet revealed in his (election campaign?) literature?

Could it be that included in Kris’s, (The Tory) manifesto should he/they be elected to power, is the intention to cut spending on public services and to increase public sector workers’ workload whilst, at the same time, planning, ultimately, to get public sector workers to work for nothing.

Can Kris be persuaded to share his secrets with those who will vote in next year’s General Election?

Val Smith

Eaton Road, Ilkley

A council decision that makes sense

We might have someone on Bradford Council who makes decisions that truly make sense. In this respect I refer to their decision to postpone the decision on boundary changes. It is to be hoped that when they come to look at this matter again, they make the position permanent.

I realise that this upsets Andrew Dundas, who has reiterated his points yet again in his letter, (Bradford Council Has Done It Again, Gazette Letters, September 24). However, his well written letter is an utter failure, as he has yet again, (for the fourth time), failed miserably to put any point forward that would make this unnecessary exercise an advantage in any way to the electorate of Ilkley, or make any costs incurred value for money.

He would be well advised to quit his delusions of grandeur, for when the council meet again, win or lose, he will have done nothing to further the interests of the electorate.

A G Goldsbrough

Fieldway, Ilkley

The simplest trip can be a right pain!

Further to correspondence about parking in which people have commented about discourteous and obstructive motorists, I have recently started to use a power chair instead of a motor scooter, since my mobility is deteriorating.

I am noticing 1, How people park over dropped kerbs and pavements; 2, How some kerbs are either not dropped, or are too steep, necessitating long detours; 3, That shops seem to be placing more and more A-boards in inconvenient places – to say nothing of their tables and chairs!

The other huge problem is that I can’t access the majority of shops, cafes and pubs. Although many kindly offer assistance, I wonder how I am to attract their attention? Do they have ramps, or am I to do my shopping on the street?

I wish someone from the council would just come on an everyday excursion with me to see how difficult it is. I hate to be a whinger, but others’ lack of consideration makes the simplest trip out a right pain!

Caroline Smith

Ilkley