Any question over supermarket chain Tesco being able to build a new supermarket in Ilkley could finally be at an end.

The main opposition group, Irate, disbanded not long after the planning inspector’s decision in 2010.

The realisation that planning permission was about to expire this autumn gave the strongest opponents of the store renewed hope that local campaigning could make a difference.

Even when Bradford councillors voted in favour of renewed planning permission, saying they felt their hands were tied by the previous ruling, some residents still believed there was a real chance the scheme could be stopped.

Now that Secretary of State intervention has been ruled out, the only hurdles remaining for the new store plan are satisfying the planning conditions – and of course Tesco itself being able to invest in building the store.

Not all of the community has been against the development.

Some have welcomed the promise of new jobs, and the better facilities expected.

Others were concerned about the impact on the town.

But for the time being at least, the future of the new store is now out of the community’s hands.

There’s no place for party politics in social provision

Party politics has its place, but that place is not at the sharp end of social care provision on a local level.

It has been claimed that proposed local authority cuts at Labour-run Bradford Council have been drawn up specifically to “punish” areas that have Conservative councillors representing them.

The leader of children’s services at Bradford Council has now come out and said that such claims are nonsense. It is to be hoped that Coun Ralph Berry is correct, and there are no such petty-minded reasons behind the serious business of where to apportion funds and, more importantly, where to cut them.

Whatever the reasons behind the budget proposals, however, there is no mistaking the fact that this area does seem to be bearing the brunt of planned closures with children’s centres in Menston and Burley, Ilkley and Silsden facing the axe.

It is perhaps understandable that the local Conservative councillors might feel there is some party political agenda to these targeted closures.

But such a thing – even if correct – might be difficult to prove and overturn.

Instead, our local representatives should perhaps consider stopping fighting and instead work together to find a way to lessen the impact of these cuts and provide the best possible service for those who need such facilities.