YEP Letters: February 6

Cash could make powerhouse 
into a reality

Phil Crowther, Bingley

Many will remember the underhand tricks employed by British Railways in the 60s to close lines by stealth i.e starve a route of services, claim it has minimal revenue and passengers, hey presto, closure followed.

In many instances, such as Wetherby to Leeds, we are now suffering for that short term thinking by politicians and accountants. It is happening again with the Bradford-based National Media Museum. Visitor numbers have dipped over the years since opening, so in the light of “The Northern Powerhouse” concept it would be reasonable to expect government would at least support it in every way possible, if not financial?

Instead, we first get the removal of many exhibits back to London followed shortly after by the International Film Festival being cancelled, I suppose to reappear “ down south”. All now expect the next move will be to remove the word National and job will be done. This is not just an insult to Bradford or Yorkshire but the north of England, site of the Northern Powerhouse. Northern MPs I hope will respond accordingly.

Meanwhile, Leeds trumpets the number of tower cranes on the skyline and we are told they are building more offices and retail. The offices again we are told are partially pre let or preleased. That means majority are not. Do not our current crop of letting agents remember we have been here before when offices and flats stood empty as developers took the tax benefits of empty property leaving Leeds to flounder? Whilst we all want success, more than a weather eye needs to be kept on forecasts by the Bank of England that financially, the national and international outlook ahead is far from rosy or predicable. Therefore, it seems this surge in building could have some wobbly foundations and that retail and partly let offices will not sustain a healthy growth.

I was amazed to see the recent article in the YEP which advised that £600 million was allocated in European funding in 2014 to help Yorkshire’s economy, but not one penny had been claimed by the end of 2015. This is in addition to