Floods of tears as the flood water roared in (From Ilkley Gazette)

Floods of tears as the flood water roared in

2:39pm Friday 3rd July 2009

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As we watched our cars rushing towards the house on something closer to a tidal wave than flood water, we wondered whether we or the house would survive.

One car ended up in a tree by the road and another hundreds of yards downstream. Where once was a mature garden, now there is only a mass of boulders and debris. We have shed some tears of sadness and frustration at the devastation, but we were not injured and the house still stands (albeit full of silt).

But we have also shed tears of gratitude for those (and there have been many) who have helped us and continue to help us at this difficult time. The neighbours and sister who mopped, cleaned, provided drinks and a steadying shoulder, including one who had been flooded herself and never mentioned her own plight. The farmers and contractors who provided machinery and expertise to move debris and remove our car from its dangerous perch in a tree. The contractors who dropped everything to respond to an emergency text and are working hard to restore some normality. Askwith Village School which delivered a beautiful colourful planter, the food box from the Parish, the cards particularly from those who have suffered severe flooding themselves, and the cakes, biscuits and flowers from neighbours and friends, and even from anonymous passers-by.

It has helped us so much to have the support of these wonderful people, and hope that through your newspaper you can pass on our sincere thanks.

Patrick and Anita Walker Sundial Farm, Askwith

Advice and practical support for all businesses

In the current difficult economic times, it is heartening to hear how local resident Jackie Whitely has fought back from the most difficult of circumstances to create Strulch, a genuinely creative and original business with a unique product (Gazette, June 25).

Setting up a new business is difficult at the best of times, and many who will be considering it today may be put off by the current economic climate, the astonishing amount of red tape, or the uncertainty of not knowing whether their idea will succeed.

Many existing small businesses in Wharfedale will also be wondering whether they will survive the recession.

However, current and potential business owners should take heart. In addition to support available locally from the organisations such as Burley and District Chamber of Trade, Bradford Kickstart can provide both the advice and practical support that all businesses need to succeed. So far, take up of funding and advice has been low from Wharfedale businesses.

I would encourage any local business to visit bradfordkickstart.com and find out about the support available.

Matt Palmer Councillor for Wharfedale Ward City of Bradford MDC, Peel Place Burley-in-Wharfedale

Whiff of double standards around IGS and Tesco plans

You report that the impact of traffic on the neighbourhood will be one of the main objections to Tesco’s planning application (Date is fixed for showdown debate over Tesco store bid, June 25). Many subscribers to the Irate campaign will doubtless not live in the vicinity of the proposed new store. I wonder if, therefore, they would support objections, at any future planning authority review, to the siting of the proposed new grammar school, in view of the at least equal threat of traffic problems in Wheatley Lane, Bolling Road and adjoining roads out of which residents will struggle to join consequent traffic queues.

During peak traffic times queues at the Ben Rhydding railway bridge chicane already stretch some distance into Bolling Road, and future hold-ups caused by a near-2,000 pupil school will stretch back to and beyond Bolling Road Primary School. Similar hold-ups can be anticipated, if planning permission is granted, at the junction of Valley Drive and Wheatley Lane, and problems at both hazards will lead to a need for two extra sets of traffic lights. The inevitable imposition of a variable 20mph speed limit, in line with current DofE recommendations, will do little to relieve an unavoidable lengthening of traffic queues along the A65, in both directions at the light-controlled junction with Wheatley Lane.

Increased pollution and levels of nitrites, the cause of so much asthma among children, will be an additional cause for concern for those living on the worst-affected roads. Traffic will probably buzz in and out of a new Tesco store at a somewhat quicker rate, with no worse impact on traffic flow.

My query as to whether such considerations had been taken into account has been met by the dusty reply of a council officer that the impact on traffic and the immediate surroundings would be a matter not for the designers, but one for consideration by the planning authority at a subsequent stage. One cannot imagine that planning permission will be refused, on the same major grounds as those involved in the Tesco application, otherwise thousands of pounds of our money (eg, architects’ and engineers’ fees), as local taxpayers, will have been wasted. Far be it from me to impugn those in authority, but if the one is turned down and the other approved (as anticipated?), a rather whiffy perception of double standards and backstairs manoeuvres will arise, whatever the truth of the matter. I would have been all for the siting of the proposed new grammar school, had there been evidence that serious traffic problems had been anticipated, and proposals to ensure that existing traffic flows would be maintained had been formulated. It would also have been nice to see concomitant proposals for the relief of Ben Rhydding residents whose environments are already blighted by hazardous use of their streets as overflow rail commuter car parks. Incidentally, if they are not to be allowed to bring their cars into the new school car park, where will sixth-form pupils leave their cars?

Keith E Hunter Moorfield Road, Ben Rhydding

Beware of green belt issue in IGS rebuild debate

At a meeting I attended in Burley re the four options for the Ilkley Grammar School rebuild, the architect clearly stated that the Ben Rhydding site was in the green belt and, unless permission was granted to take it out, the plans could not go ahead. Since then none of the reports in this paper mention the green belt.

Beware, if it is taken out you can be sure further building will take place with ribbon development all the way to Burley, do we really want this? Also the farmer will lose his livelihood, Wheatley Grange Farm was shown on the plans as Ilkley Riding School which I feel was misleading.

Kay Vann Wheatley Lane, Ben Rhydding

Addingham needs scout centre, not another pharmacy

While no one would object to improvements to medical services in Addingham, I have rarely heard complaints about the pharmaceutical facilities offered by Clayfields. Indeed, compared to the somewhat cold, disinterested attitudes of most of the pharmaceutical conglomerates, I have found the personal attention, kindness and attention to detail at Clayfields a rare phenomenon, something which contributes to the warm well being of living in this village.

Given that pharmaceutical businesses are commercial enterprises, one does sometimes wonder what this has to do with the publicly funded NHS.

I cannot remember hearing of any pharmaceutical company applying for planning permission for a highly convenient and super-privileged positions, adjacent to a health centre. If one has done (as it undoubtedly should) should we not know, who it is!

Having been once involved in attempting – and eventually succeeding in obtaining – planning permission for a large medical practice, in a place overseen by the same planning authority, a mandatory condition for approval was for the accommodation of 220 cars, with all spaces allocated exclusively to the practice.

I have not seen the plans of the new Addingham Health Centre, but it would be interesting to know how many car parking spaces have been provided, in addition to those which inadequately serve the Memorial Hall.

Obviously, if there is to be an additional commercial enterprise, operating on the same site as well, one wonders what the planning conditions demanded, in terms of car-parking requirements, for this!

Any pharmacy adjacent to a health centre enjoys a huge advantage over any competition.

Business, of course, is business, and a very high premium will have to be paid by any pharmaceutical company given the opportunity to wipe out any competition to attain a captive audience: especially one like Addingham’s – an isolated, but fairly thriving village.

In the middle of all this business, the NHS, and public funding, is involved. Somehow, this seems to be getting mixed up with commercial enterprise.

Perhaps this is wrong, but, if it is right, then I think the residents of Addingham should be told clearly, who pays who, how much, when and why; especially as they have lost their scout centre, and see a threat to a long established, much loved, and good village business.

Addingham needs a health centre.

Addingham does not need another pharmacy.

Addingham needs a scout centre.

It should not be too difficult, at this stage, to put the scouts, in the proposed space allocated to a pharmacy. And, I would guess, to almost universal local approval.

Peter Langtry-Langton Birk Lane Addingham

Not against a bridge, but is it really what people want?

What happened to those outspoken Burley folk I knew? Are they, like Canute, hoping the Bridge Association will wash away in the next flood?

The Mill Dam area is a unique part of Wharfedale’s industrial heritage. As such, it should be kept that way, long with the ancient ford which, so I understand from fellow horse riders, is now blocked to those wishing to cross the river by this route. Also the current control barrier so often quoted, wrongly as it happens, as being stepping stones. Six times in their latest publicity sheet. Why the Bridge Association continue to call them such, when anyone with a bit of sense knows stepping stones stand upright, not laid on their sides?

Why do the Bridge Association never acknowledge Burley’s former footbridge across the river? D Roe (Letters, June 25) makes it very plain what will happen if their latest carbuncle gets planning permission. I’ll take it a step further. Already visitors have shown what they think of Ilkley’s country and riverside. How long before the same happens in Askwith, the so-called Nidderdale ANB, Weston and Denton? How long before their rural aspects give way to footpaths, lampposts, speed bumps and all the other attributes of urban living? How long before house prices crash on the north side of the river?

Last week’s flooding should be a warning to all who meddle with nature in Wharfedale. I’m not against a bridge at Burley if that’s what Askwith and Burley residents realy want. However, I am against the position the Bridge Association have chosen.

FRAZER IRWIN Queens Road, Ilkley

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