Letters to the Editor

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Thursday 3rd Mar 2005.

Who cares about animal welfare?

SIR - On February 27 I found two half-grown German Shepherd pups in my field near Chathill Load, Thornton.

After searching the local area and asking people if they knew who owned them, I tried the Bradford Dog Warden but no-one answered the phone. The same applied to the RSPCA.

The last resort was the police. I was told by a WPC that I had to take the pups to Lawcroft House police station as they were not insured to collect them. I told her I could not get the pups there and her solution was to turn the pups loose!

What sort of attitude/service is this? And what about the welfare of the animals? They could have caused a road traffic accident and killed someone or themselves.

Furthermore, the WPC took no details in case the owner rang the police station looking for his/her animals.

After another two hours searching, the owner was found, no thanks to anyone but me. He had phoned the police and they told him there were no dogs reported found. I wonder why?

E Crossley, Southlands Grove, Thornton.

Coppies poser

SIR - It was interesting to note Donald Firth's attempt to correct the T&A's spelling of The Coppies to The Coppice (T&A, February 21) as many letters to me use the latter name, even from people who should know better.

This sets a poser. We all know the meaning of The Coppice, but does anybody know the meaning of The Coppies?

Indeed, does anybody know the meaning of Delph Hill (sometimes spelt Delf Hill, incorrectly)?

Mike Stocks, The Coppies, Delph Hill, Wyke.

Keep Square dry!

SIR - With reference to the Comment regarding markets in Centenary Square (T&A, February 23) in which you say that it is an excellent and under-used open space right at the heart of the city.

Not for long as it is going to become a large pool which will be of no use to anybody except maybe ducks.

If people want to look at pools they go to the city's parks, not the city centre.

H D Bedford, Pollard Park, Bradford.

Who's in charge?

SIR - Now that Will Alsop's futuristic scheme for Bradford has met with such derision, is it not time that we should have a rethink and write off the £1 million plus which it has cost us, as yet another false start?

The first thing to be reconsidered must be the fate of the Odeon.

Contrary to the unanimous wishes of your correspondents, it appears that Maud Marshall, the `experts' of Ove Arup and Yorkshire Forward have already decided to demolish.

The impression given is that Yorkshire Forward will only allow taxpayers' money to be used in Bradford if it is spent according to their instructions.

This begs the question, who is running Bradford - our elected representatives or an arbitrary quango?

If the latter, so much for `the involvement of the community being essential for identifying the needs of Bradford'.

Is it any wonder that people don't bother to vote?

John Pashley, Westcliffe Avenue, Baildon.

Rubbish service!

SIR - I keep reading in your paper about how Bradford is leading the way in recycling waste. This is not the case in Idle!

Last year I replied to the Council's invitation to take a bottle and can bin. After receiving no acknowledgement to my request, it took four or five phone calls before a bin was finally delivered.

Since then, there has been no collection from our road whatsoever, in spite of repeated requests to the Council. The bins have been left weeks on the kerbside, simply adding to Bradford's reputation as a slum city.

This scheme is either an utter failure or is Idle simply the forgotten area of Bradford as I have long suspected?

I may add it took five years of continual requests before our road could get a sand bin.

Elaine Neale, Gordon Terrace, Sherborne Road, Idle.

l John Turner, Bradford Council's Principal Officer, Waste Management, said: "We would like to apologise to Mrs Neale for not collecting her recycling bin and any inconvenience this has caused. We will be writing to her giving details of future collection dates.

"We did carry out a collection of recycled waste on Gordon Terrace on February 9 and the next collection is due on March 9.

"Unfortunately, we have experienced a number of collection problems of recyclables after the busy New Year holiday period and we are aware some properties in the district may not have received a comprehensive service.

"We are restructuring rounds to ensure households receive an improved service and bins are emptied on the dates detailed on the bin stickers."

A wake-up call

SIR - There seems to be a problem these days as to who gets priority from the police. When members of the public make a complaint, they are classed as low priority and have to wait until more serious crimes are dealt with.

When the police require someone to `Dob in a Dealer', the response from the public is immediate according to police figures.

The trouble is the public are fed up of being fobbed off, and their response is "Why bother reporting anything?"

What is needed is a two-pronged attack on crime and anti-social behaviour. The general public deserve a priority service as they pay for everything, including keeping undesirables under lock and key.

Why not have two police teams, one to respond to complaints from the public and another to deal with serious crime?

Let's face it, until the police present a better face to the public in general, the minimal confidence in them that exists now will in future be non-existent.

This is not a go at the officers on the streets (if you can find one) but a wake-up call to divisional commanders and above.

Coun Trevor Williams-Berry, Vice Chairman, Wrose Parish Council, Bredon Avenue, Wrose.

Say no to Europe

SIR - I see that most of the Spanish did not bother to vote in the European referendum because they knew it was a foregone conclusion - that it would be a `yes' vote.

At least they had the honesty to admit it was a good thing for Spain as they have millions of pounds in grants from the EU budget, much of it Britain has put in.

I really hope the British people have enough sense to vote `no' because for one thing the European Union is thinking of increasing Britain's contribution.

In a recent poll we are told that Germany, Belgium and Spain don't like us and only 30 per cent of the French like us. So why should we be a member of this unelected mob in Brussels?

I for one will disobey every law that Brussels tries to give me that I can get away with. Our real friends are America, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. We don't need Europe. I am an Englishman not a European.

N Brown, Peterborough Place, Undercliffe.

Following EU rules

SIR - I was interested in Jim Greenhalf's article (T&A, February 21) about the opening up of the postal service to competition.

What he failed to note was that this has been brought about by yet another EU Directive. State Monopolies, no matter how useful, are no longer permitted.

Everything has to be open to competition even if that reduces the final quality of service.

For example, a train operator cannot hold the franchise for repairing the rails their trains run on because of another EU directive. One would think it obvious that having a single company being responsible for both trains and track would be sensible but that is not now permitted.

The EU wants the UK to concentrate on cereal crops in farming. Hence the milk quota system that has forced 20,000 diary farmers out of business in the last ten years.

The result is that we now have to buy milk from France where they do not have a milk quota system.

In any case France is in breach of more than 100 major directives, yet no-one at Brussels seems to do anything about it.

Arthur Bailey, Nelson Road, Ilkley.

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