THE LDF (Local Development Framework) devised by Labour for 45,000 new properties is an ill thought-out policy that will decimate the natural heritage and environment of Kirklees.

This mandatory imposition will also place on local support services unprecedented pressures that simply will not be able to cope and therefore in the process reduce considerably services as they are presently.

Unfortunately as usual, central government and local councillors do not look at other alternatives before such an upheaval is forced on us.

They should first unlock and reintroduce all the Kirklees domestic properties that are standing idle. That would be the common sense decision-making process. But it appears that our Labour and Liberal councillors who supposedly run Kirklees, are totally oblivious to the fact.

Therefore the people of Kirklees should totally reject this system of political imposition that has all the hallmarks of a Third World dictatorial regime.

Indeed, green pastures will be blighted and chaos will be the outcome with the creation of the highly congested areas that will definitely appear.

If ever therefore there was a reason for the people of Kirklees to gather together to oppose such a planned and imposed development framework, it is this LDF.

For it is your Kirklees and not in the ownership of the megalomaniac Labour government. So, if you vote for Labour, you are voting for a housing explosion that will affect all areas of Kirklees like never before.

This cannot be right in a free and just nation. Or have we lost all hope in democracy and the power of the people to stop such an abysmal draconian decision being imposed on us all?

Once local politicians have been given the go-ahead there will be no turning back.

Dr David Hill

Independent candidate for the Golcar Ward

‘Social engineering’

I SECOND the comments of Alan Knight (Mailbag, April 8) about the Local Development Framework (LDF).

This stems from a centralised Labour diktat and is deeply undemocratic due to the role of unelected quangos in imposing arbitrary building targets on local authorities.

The target of 37,000 houses in Kirklees is based not on actual demand, but on Labour’s projections for population growth linked to its broader policies on demographic change.

The LDF has more to do with social engineering than with civil engineering. This issue is deeply political, and there is a very clear divide between Labour and Conservative policies – Labour seeks to impose its wishes on an unwilling populace, Conservatives pledge to return decision making to local residents.

No doubt Slaithwaite would be greatly affected by the LDF, but here in Ashbrow we face an even deeper impact.

Three of the four proposals on the table would see Bradley golf course disappear under 2,500 or so houses, and the fields at Lower Cote, Fixby, give way to another 370.

Bradley, Fixby and Bradford Roads are already saturated with traffic – another 3,000 houses may well add 4,000 cars to them.

This number of new houses would also be likely to bring thousands of children into Ashbrow, increasing pressure on education services and virtually non-existent local health care provisions.

Note that I say ‘on the table’. The fact is that Labour-led Kirklees Council should have publicised its preferred option last December.

This has now been postponed until June, conveniently after the elections have come and gone.

Personally, I am convinced that the decision to obliterate Bradley’s golf course and despoil Lower Cote has already been made by Labour. It just hasn’t been announced yet.

Bill Armer

(Deputy Chair Huddersfield Conservative Association; Conservative candidate for Ashbrow)

Radio crowded out

So Marcus (Mailbag, April 9) thinks that Huddersfield can support its own radio station.

If it could, then Pennine would not have gone.

Huddersfield would not have enough local listeners to sustain adverts on a commercial station. The BBC is, and needs, to cut down.

At least eight BBC stations can be received in the Huddersfield area, and more than eight commercial ones.

If one gets on the M62 at Ainley Top you will get BBC Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester and if you drive towards Leeds you will get Yorkshire and Humberside plus the national BBC stations.

There are at least eight commercial stations and I lost count in Wakefield of all the rubbish commercial stations that did not even give a signature name.

Pulse covers this side of Yorkshire and Galaxy is not bad some of the time.

Since most are only for anybody under 19 I do not even bother with them except for traffic news.

I play CDs or my MP3 player through the car radio.

I suggest if he is home then he tries internet radio. He can get 15,000 stations playing any type and language. Should be enough I think, without crying over one.

M B Fletcher

Emley

Smiles at the top

IT was very gratifying to see eight smiley faces on page 7 of the Examiner the other day (Thursday, April 1). No one could have guessed it was Maundy Thursday!

Before I retired it would have taken me three years to earn Mr Hood’s £60,000 discretionary bonus – oh to have had a bonus payment of any kind during 34 years of teaching!

Along with Mr Vincent, Mr Hood and his £100,000+ colleagues, I trust they will show gratitude to the Kirklees Council tax payers for our generosity as we travel along potholed roads, or marvel at St George’s Square (when open), or pay high parking fees for the privilege of visiting our town centre.

Perhaps we may even see the odd policeman in our valleys every now and again!

It’s a pity such highly paid officers could not do something so that mothers-to-be, or those who suffer mental illness have to go anywhere but Huddersfield for their peace of mind!

Still, back to the smiley faces – will there be enough space in the Examiner to publish the smiley faces of the 1,500 council workers who are to lose their jobs in the foreseeable future?

Ray Thompson

Prompt council tax payer

Protecting our heritage

I WOULD like to thank John Rumsby (Mailbag, April 2) for the information on the missing boulder at Castle Hill.

At the beginning of the 1950s, I visited Tolson Museum and saw on a whole wall of one room, a picture of Castle Hill fort.

It could be seen clearly from outside as well through the window, as it was a colossal size.

I went to the hill to try to identify it.

I could see a small part of the outer fortification still clearly visible looking towards Farnley Tyas, it was on the left side of Lumb Lane at the foot of the hill. It was still there in the 1960s, before it was levelled and ploughed. The road to Castle Hill was still steep up and not dug through the ramparts at the top of the plateau.

Now when I think about it, it makes me wonder how it was possible that it survived nearly 1,000 years and was eliminated in just over 40 years.

We must not allow the same fate to overtake the rest of our most prestigious heritage, the Pride of Huddersfield, as future generations will never forgive us.

We are still witnessing how dictatorial regimes tried to enforce a new culture on long standing ones and the consequences created by it.

tony sosna

Huddersfield

Rooms with a view

IN answer to Perplexed, Almondbury (Examiner, April 8), I am finding it really difficult to understand your mind set.

A 33-bed hotel at Aspley or any other hotel you have in mind, compared with a seven bedroom hotel situated in a prime position on top of a hill where everyone would have a vista to be proud?

I know where I would recommend anyone wishing to have a wedding reception, birthday bash or romantic evening. Not to mention the weekend or evening stroll up there for a drink and a chat taking in the marvellous views.

The Thandi Partnership have been there and done it and will have done their homework relating to the whole set up.

People with a negative point of view have bullied councillors and Kirklees Planning into refusing planning permission at a time when businessmen are trying to provide a service for residents and visitors to West Yorkshire.

I sincerely hope that common sense prevails and this planning decision is overturned. There would be no shortage of customers wishing to enjoy a well run, ideally located establishment.

You never know Perplexed you might even sneak up there for a treat. I certainly will.

chris thomas

Netherton

All winter long

THE last pockets of snow – snow which originally fell on December 17 have finally gone from the tops, where it has lain continuously for 117 days.

Has any longer period ever been recorded?

Arthur Quarmby

Holme