THANK you, Iain McFalls (“No thank you, Mr Malik,” Mailbag Sept 11). You say everything I’ve said in letters of objection to various proposals from the Boundary Commission for England over the years.
We, in Denby Dale and Kirkburton, are the ping pong ball every time changes are deemed necessary. One time all parliamentary constituencies were required to be within local authority areas; another time they were to have roughly the same number of electors. We have been bounced into Dewsbury then into Wakefield then back into Dewsbury and we are sick of it.
Our allegiance is to Huddersfield and we want nothing to do with Dewsbury or the Heavy Woollen Area. Consider it personal if you like.
I was employed in the then County Borough of Huddersfield Borough Engineer’s Department before the 1974 local government reorganisation, and by the Kirklees equivalent (Engineering Services, Technical Services, etc., etc.,) afterwards.
During discussions for the reorganisation it was decided to have five local authorities in West Yorkshire centred on the five major centres of population: Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds and Wakefield.
The area around here was known as Area 6(d). Remember?
The question was: What do we do with Dewsbury, etc? Into Wakefield or into Huddersfield? Wakefield didn’t want it. Huddersfield got it.
The chance to object was given, but declined, if memory serves, “because we might get something worse.” (!)
So we were stuck with them.
Ex-MP Graham Riddick tried to get a campaign going to split the Kirklees district about 12 years ago but nothing came of it. Pity. Similar ideas do get talked about from time to time but nothing happens.
When the lines on the map had been fixed the task of appointing chief officers had to be faced. I can speak only for the municipal engineering/highways standpoint, but the representatives from outside Huddersfield “ganged up”; they didn’t want to be crushed by the Huddersfield steam roller. The best engineer for miles around, Mr A L. Percy, didn’t get the top job in the “directorate.” (This was the era of management jargonese; “department” was a dirty, old fashioned word.) They didn’t want “the devil they knew.”
I promise that the roads would not be as bad as they are if ALP had been in charge. Under his leadership and guidance the A640 New Hey Road from Tanyard Road to the M62 Motorway was improved.
The late Peter Stansfield designed and supervised construction of this contract and I still have a copy of the Bill of Quantities for the job. Tender price £269,613 9s 0d! Now look what they’ve done to it.
So here we are. Tails have wagged dogs in Kirklees many times. Us and them prevails, as some of us in 1974 said it would.
I would not go quite as far as a colleague said in the mid seventies – he lived in neither Huddersfield nor Dewsbury but in Halifax: “The best thing to do with the Heavy Woollen Area is to build a wall round it and fill it with concrete”, but a lot of people would be glad if they’d go their way and we went ours.
Frank L Appleyard
Shepley
Danger of magic lanterns
COULD I bring your attention to the magiclanterns that are set afloat into the atmosphere at this time of year by many different organisations and individuals.
I am sure they look very pretty floating up into the air bobbing about giving a beautiful glow to the darkness. The problem is that their is no control over where they land. Most of the structure is bio degradable, ie paper and thin pieces of bamboo.
Unfortunately this cannot be said of the crossed steel wires used to place the flammable cotton wool that gives it the lift. I have picked up three of these somewhat dangerous articles over the weekend on my short dog walk along the heath road at Linthwaite, in the fields and grass areas alongside the golf course.
Can you imagine the damage these things could do to the many horses, cows and sheep in the fields.
And of more of concern to myself what if my dog ran into one in the long grass, it could cause severe injuries to the limbs. Would it not be possible to manufacture them with something other than the thin wire in order to make them safer for the local wildlife?
Joe
Linthwaite
China trade questioned
I THINK it was in February that Clr Ken Sims was reported as saying “Our local companies are already selling high tech goods to China”.
This interested me very much so I emailed him to ask who the companies were or where I could get the information he was quoting.
Sadly he did not reply so I sent him a letter through the post. No reply. I concluded, perhaps erroneously, that his total lack of response suggested a lack of substance behind his remarks.
Now we know what was going on. The St George’s Square furore seems to reveal that by ‘high tech goods to China’ he really meant ‘low tech goods from China’.
We know they are getting the lead off our church roofs and the copper from the railway signals.
What else are we sending them in exchange for the red granite?
What do we get out of all your negotiations other than massive job losses and coloured pavements?
I would very much like to know.
Mark Mercer
Golcar
Turned to stone?
ON the off chance that Clr Ken Sims turns out to be right and the pink granite in St George’s Square does turn brown in a couple of years, will any of his political opponents stand up and say “I’m sorry, I was wrong”?
Richard Huddleston
West Slaithwaite
It’s no ‘twerp’ behind the wheel!
WHO is this Tim Radcliffe asks “Hard up and fed up”? (“Pedestrian Taliban, Mailbag September 16).
He’s someone who approaches the crossings in Holmfirth with a good deal of caution in the firm belief that some “twerp” will step into the road without looking.
Tim Radcliffe
Huddersfield
Late plea by our MP
I SEE from your article “Call for help to stop thieves stealing cables” (Examiner September 15), that our MP Barry Sheerman is calling for urgent talks with the police over cable thefts. Where has this man been for the last four years?
The cost of commodities such as lead and copper has been at a record high during this time, mainly due to the expanding economies of countries such as China and India.
Why is it that Mr Sheerman is only now calling for talks with the police?
Has he ever asked people who commute by train how many times they have been delayed due to cable thefts on the railway? I guess not.
If he did, he would realise that the railway industry is a major victim in relation to metal theft and the British Transport Police consider metal thefts as their second biggest priority after terrorism. Has he spoken to them on behalf of his constituents?
Finally, before Mr Sheerman has those urgent talks with the police, somebody might like to tell him that when people burn cable, they do it to extract copper and NOT lead as he twice stated.
John Lenihan
Oakes
New buildings bring progress
KENN Winter (Senior Moment Examiner September 12), what planet are you on? The new Creative Arts building at Huddersfield University is a fabulous design – a very modern, chic and impressive replacement of the Great Hall in which I received my degree in 1979 and spent many a Friday night “headbanging” to the touring Uni bands.
It’s a lovely building – modern, clean-cut and impressively designed.Yes,Kenn, we must preserve our fine historical buildings but please don’t hold back the march of time – we must also welcome the new, the vibrant and the go-ahead.
Old and new can blend with and contrast each other – we have to move on as a town, while also preserving our heritage.
Christine Quinn
Lindley
Punishment missing
YOUR report (September 16) on £700,000 from the intensive package of action in 69 areas of England indicates the facility to remove young people from the streets.
Will they be given an exciting ride home in a police car at taxpayers’ expense? If they are taken to a police station they will meet social workers who will direct them to other services. Should we be surprised that prisons are bursting at the seams when the idea of punishment has been omitted from the Government’s strategy to tackle youth crime?
Garfi ŠŠ
Thankful for honesty
I WOULD like to say a big thank you to the very kind lady who handed my wallet into the customer services at Matalan on Tuesday September 16. I was extremely relieved to get my wallet back. It’s good to know that there are still some honest people around. Could the lady please contact me via the Examiner.
D Emmett
Almondbury
Act over Lindley Moor change
I HAVE asked this question before, but again – “is Kirklees Council above the law?” Because it would appear that they disregard anything that doesn’t suit them. How come Lindley Moor is now a brown site?
It was left to the people of Huddersfield as an open space in perpetuity (that means forever) but the stone has conveniently disappeared.
Do we all sit down and say nothing or is there anyone out there who can put a spoke in this wheel? Before it is covered with houses – possibly in Chinese pink granite.
MRS P MACKAY
Linthwaite
