Blot on the landscape

The reason at least some of us want to sever our link with Bradford is primarily because we do not get a fair share of the resources.

There is a clear distinction between what Bradford Council is prepared to do for those who live within the hallowed bounds of the City of Bradford and those who live outside.

A couple of recent incidents illustrate the Bradford mentality perfectly, one essentially trivial and the other monumentally important.

The trivial issue is the recent switch to fortnightly bin collections inflicted first on those of us on the fringe.

According to a recent snippet in the Keighley News, we were supposed to have been leafleted first. I bet that come July, when Bradford proper changes to fortnightly bin collections, the council will make sure all their privileged Bradford City residents are properly informed in advance, unlike my neighbours, all of whom put their recycling bins out as normal only to find that the council had switched to a different day without bothering to inform us.

The other is the incinerator that is going to be polluting the atmosphere for those who live close by and ruining the view in the Aire Valley for all for miles around.

The Bradford planners would never have allowed such a project within the city limits, but since it is outside they have no qualms.

I thought it more than a little ironic when I read on a previous page to Val’s letter that the planners had rejected a shopfront application on the grounds that “it has visual impact that results in significant harm to Keighley town centre conservation area”. Blink as you walk past and you would miss it. The same cannot be said of that huge and hideous monstrosity that the same planners have sanctioned in Marley. That will be a permanent blot on the landscape visible from afar and absolutely dominating the view locally.

ROGER CHAPMAN Keighley