Drive of Bradfordians can restore civic pride

WITH reference to your co-respondent Barrie Craig and his letter (Yorkshire Post, November 13), it is interesting to note his comments regarding the lack of civic pride in Bradford. The positives he has drawn from Bradford City Football Club’s relative success in very recent times are also due in no small measure to the contributions made by the joint chairmen Julian Rhodes and Mark Lawn.

Civic pride is important and Bradford as a city appears to have lost its purpose entirely. This dark catalogue of despair, decline and decay seems to have consigned it to a predictable fate and paints a depressing picture.

However, nothing is inevitable and whilst there is life, hope springs eternal. Bradford City Football Club has shown the way. Let others follow! Bradfordians need a little bit of heart and a large “dollop” of local pride. Why play second fiddle to Leeds? Why are we part of the Leeds Enterprise Partnership – a misnomer if ever there was one? Why are we considering endorsing the HS2 scheme which will at best only benefit Leeds? Why do we have two dead end railway stations? Why do we tacitly accept our status as second division? Why don’t we have a proper ring road like most cities? Why do we have a motorway ending in West Bowling and not the city centre? Why do we have a large hole in our city centre and why do we have a derelict building in our West End which should be the “pride” of Yorkshire?

The reason, of course, is the lack of will and the strength of our characters. Only by the drive and force of its citizens will the city move on to rival and upstage its local neighbours. A fantasy maybe? Remember the Capital One Cup and live the dream!