Reply To Letters In Ilkley Gazette

Did the Inspector not stop to think how many supermarkets Ilkley already has? My count is four only the fourth is not what all would call a superstore. It’s the many and varied smaller traders which make up the town. Without them it will slowly die, house prices fall, visitors go elsewhere and as one put it tumbleweed instead of carpet bedding. Just as well Ilkley got gold this year.I can’t say I’ve never shopped at a Tesco but this is Ilkley, a small town which relies in part on folk visiting our independent small traders, hostelries and eating establishments. It’s not Bristol! Mrs J More points to the need of a long stay coach park. I wonder if she’s thought why there isn’t one already. None of the sites put forward were good enough when the former Tourist Management Committee tried for years to gain a coach park for the town and was repeatedly turned down with various excuses from them over t’ill. Where was the Parish Council then?Bev Plaxton is right this isn’t the time to move on unless that move is to an appeal against the Inspector’s decision. One only has to look at the number of cars entering and leaving the present site to get some idea of what will happen between Rock Villa and the rest of the area. Only this number will be many times greater. Schools, Fire Station, bus routes, industrial estate and rat runs all add to something we wish not to happen. Did the Inspector really believe the people of Ilkley would take this sitting down?At the last count there were nearly 200 outlets in town. Nick Beeson begins the list which gives quality, expertise and service. I add the following Eric Spencers, Martinez Wines, Wilkinsons Butchers, Green Health Shop, Ilkley’s numerous opticians, The Loafer, Arthur English and Cleggs, Duttons for Buttons, Leeds Road Pets, LS29, Booths, Ilkley’s jewellers, Dobson and Robinson, DaleEddisson. Perhaps readers would care to add their lists too and the Gazette in turn to print them.RIP Ilkley doesn’t tell the whole story. I too remember Burrells from Mr Burrell to the last owner, but it was the state of the building which in the main forced a move. Later high rents in the Station Plaza area caused it’s demise. A look in the financial pages tells why Thorntons would have closed whether Tesco was in town or not. You will find it was the lease which ran out for the wool shop at the same time as Michael’s Flower Box. Seven charity shops out of near two hundred is not a full town. Though I wonder if anyone remembers the delicatessen at what is now Sue Ryder. A look into the history of the town and one will find the number of cafés and eating establishments has actually gone down.For those cutting up their Tesco cards one has to ask did they do all their shopping at that store? It’s like closing the door after the nag has bolted only this one is set to hang about a while. Our small traders have had need for the card cutters long before Tesco put their plans in.Riaz Meer points to the lack of queues of late. Where once the eager bustle one finds a deathly hush. It is becoming very noticeable in certain parts of the town. It can’t all be a cut back in folk’s bank accounts. Even the closure of our college a decade ago didn’t have this effect so suddenly. Finally I shouldn’t worry about garden grabbing as folk won’t want to live in or on the edge of a ghost town.