Bus cuts based on 19th century rules

The three-mile limit comes from legislation passed in 1870 when the government of the day declared that you could not ask a child to walk more than three miles a day to find a school.

In 1870 Charles Dickens died and Vladimir Ilych Lenin was born and the Franco Prussian War was in full flow.

It would be a further nine years until Karl Benz would be granted a patent for an internal combustion engine and 14 years until British engineer Edward Butler would produce one that ran off of petrol.

Councillors and officers of North Yorkshire believe children can walk three miles each way, every day yet at the same time made 38,000 travel expenses claims for journeys of six miles or less and paid themselves a staggering £4.5 million in travel expenses last year alone.

Steve Richardson, Carleton in Craven

Cut aid or EU bill first

Sir – I read with dismay the decimation of many of our local bus routes. This service is a lifeline for many older people especially those who live in outlaying areas who cannot drive or ride a bike.

I do not blame NYCC for the proposed cuts – it is the government that is responsible. They say we have to reduce the deficit it is time that they got their priorities right how about. 1. The Overseas Budget is £12.8 billion a year.

2. We send £54 million every day to the EU.

Charity begins at home, so shouldn’t we be looking after our own OAPs, many now in their 80s and 90s, who went through the war and now need comforts in later life, instead of squandering money to countries who despise our way of life.

Rodney Mills, Ripon

Useless tree screens

Sir – I walked past Snaygill Industrial Estate this week, and shuddered again at the bare patch in front of Guyson International where there should be a tree screen.

Craven District Council says it can do nothing about the chopping down of the trees and bushes, even though it was a requirement of planning permission to have them to screen the ugly buildings.

The council ordered the screen to be planted but was not prepared to take steps to prevent it being chopped down again.

It could have put a preservation order on the trees, at any time, but did not. It required plantings to be maintained but is unable to enforce this.

Now Sainsbury’s proposes to build next to Waltonwrays and promises, “We will plant screens to protect visual amenity”.

So did Guyson. If developers can chop down these screens, without any comeback, then they are a nonsense.

Sainsbury’s, like Guyson, will be able to chop down plantings whenever it pleases.

Screening is a sop by developers and planning to encourage us to accept bland, cheap, monotonous, ugly buildings dominating the town instead of demanding better.

If the council is going to allow buildings near Waltonwrays, a site very visible from many viewpoints in Skipton, let them at least be buildings worth looking at. We can’t rely on tree screens.

Claire Nash, Skipton

Parish apology

Sir – I am writing on behalf of Embsay with Eastby Parish Council to express our sincere apologies to those local residents who may have turned up at Embsay Village Hall on, Wednesday evening, January 22, 2014, expecting to attend a special public open meeting concerning the impact of the Tour de France on our local villages.

As they will have discovered, the meeting actually took place on the previous evening, owing to confusion about the day and date as reported in your newspaper.

As is my custom as parish clerk, a general press release highlighting key aspects of the parish council meeting held on January 9 was sent to your newspaper.

This included a brief mention of the public open meeting – with the correct date (21 January) but an incorrect day (Wednesday).

It appears your newspaper may have extracted this item from the press release and ran it as a separate “snippet” which publicised only the day but not the date.

It is therefore likely that on the basis of this brief article, residents will have turned up for the meeting on the Wednesday evening.

Fortunately, publicity notices were put up in the village prior to the meeting with the correct date and day and this resulted in a successful meeting with a good attendance.

Along with our apologies to those local residents who turned up on the wrong night, the parish council would like to address their disappointment and irritation by special action.

They are encouraged to contact Coun Jeremy Tuck on 01756 799044 should they wish to discuss the highlights of the 21 January meeting, ask questions, express their own concerns, etc.

The parish council will be undertaking additional special action to inform local residents about the anticipated impact of this event – when further, more precise information is available.

This may be in the form of another public open meeting closer to the event, a special presentation at the annual parish meeting (to be held on Tuesday, May 20, 2014) or an information leaflet distributed to each household prior to the event.

If another public meeting is to be held, those local residents who may have been inconvenienced by incorrect information about the recent meeting are assured that the date and day on the press release will be triple checked for accuracy!

Robert Kandt, Parish clerk, Embsay with Earby Parish Council

Editor’s note: We would also like to express our apologies for our part in the error.

Sheep Day is more fun than any bike race

Sir – I learn with regret that the annual Skipton Sheep Day has been cancelled for 2014 simply because some foreign bike race is passing through town.

Clearly our town administrators are more concerned with the Tour de France event than celebrating the real heritage of Skipton as “Sheep Town”, one of its major events in the calendar.

Is France somewhere near Skipton, or anything to do with it? The Sheep Day is a great local event for local people bringing in the local community and some income to local traders.

It is not clear what real benefit the bike race would bring to the town.

Frankly I can see a bunch of bicycles grouped together in brightly coloured outfits on every Saturday and Sunday of the year on the A65 and A59, it’s boring and a nuisance.

Surely it not beyond the wit of man to simply have Sheep Day a few weeks before of after, perhaps to coincide closely with Yorkshire Day?

My experience of Sheep Day is that it is an enjoyable event for the whole family and lots to see and do for several hours.

The bike race will involve hanging around for hours with nothing happening, and then some bikes whizz past. Try telling your seven-year-olds that it is fun!

John Stolarczyk, Cross Hills

Petrol duopoly

Sir – Skipton does need Sainsbury's, if only for its petrol station, to break the duopoly on fuel prices that Tesco and Morrisons enjoy.

As has been commented in these pages before, fuel is a good 5p/litre cheaper in Keighley where there is proper competition.

William Barker, Skipton

Sense over funding

Sir – Persistently the political leader at Craven District Council, coun Knowles-Fitton, has said both through the Craven Herald and direct to parishes that he would oppose any “giving away” of the Council Tax Benefit Grant from central government to the parish councils across Craven for which is was intended. Even though this money was not his to give, but clearly for CDC to pass on to the parishes.

This unreasonable stance was in direct defiance of and blatantly ignoring the Local Government Minister Mr Brandon Lewis’ insistence that this parish grant was included in the financial settlement for Craven District Council and that although not ringfenced, it should be passed to parishes in its entirety.

It was with great relief that the vast majority of CDC members took the decent and moral approach and dismissed coun Knowles-Fitton’s stance as grossly misjudged and unfair. Members on this occasion stepped back from initiating a vote of no confidence in the leader.

The parish and town councils of Craven are increasingly having to provide and fund basic services such as public toilets which Craven District Council continues to abandon.

Three bottles of expensive beer purchased by a member on a visit to Paris maybe seen as not a priority for their hard-earned Council Tax, but more an example of operating a personal fiefdom.

Robert Hesletine, North Yorkshire county councillor, Skipton 

Toilet closure anger

Sir – I write to express my consternation at the closure of the bus station toilets, and would ask the council to seriously reconsider your decision.

I certainly share the mayor of Skipton’s concern.

I live near the town centre and am often asked for directions to the nearest convenience.

It seems preposterous that this essential service to both residents and visitors has been withdrawn. Perhaps more signs might help visitors in their quest to find such a facility, and it is essential should be maintained and fit for purpose.

It is not unusual in business to have a loss leader in order to encourage customers. (councillor Alan Sutcliffe, Craven District Council’s lead member for financial resilience please take note).

In Skipton's case, our customers will stop coming into the town at all if they cannot readily find toilet facilities easily available and accessible. It is unfair to rely on supermarkets and Rackhams to provide that facility, and not least customer satisfaction, on the council's behalf.

We are led to believe that leading up to Le Tour de France in July, we are going to be inundated with visitors to the town.

Where is the logic of withdrawing an essential facility and a potential profit maker this year in particular, or are the townsfolk going to have to open their residences to provide relief to our cycling visitors, or are our Financial advisors so shortsighted? Some of our ginnels are bad enough as it is, and this is another problem which needs addressing.

Please, please look at this problem once again and give it serious and sympathetic reconsideration.

Valerie Mason, Skipton

Loss of a loss leader

Sir – I heartily agree, for once, with our mayor on this subject.

Coach loads of folk visit Skipton so I hope the toilets in the coach park stay open and clean and you don't close those as well.

In Tenerife all cafés etc have to allow public use of their loos whether they are customers or not. Such is the importance of loos for tourists.

Chatsworth felt it worth their while to install “the best ones in the UK”.

Loss leaders maybe but they lead to better business because folk feel more comfortable to look round and spend money when they are not “dying to spend a penny”.

Jan Gordon, Skipton

Under the radar?

Sir – Were Craven District Council trying to sneak the closure of the bus station toilets under the radar?

Why else would they just close them without notice or an ounce of public consultation?

Skipton is a key tourist town – the busiest in Craven.

But then when so many of the ruling party, including the leader, represent the villages rather than Skipton, is it any wonder that the town regularly gets treated with disdain?

See 9 High Street, the threats to the bowling green, the council offices to name but a few instances.

And I see another comment on your letters page about dog mess in Skipton – still no action on that then?

Mr G Webb, Skipton

Back pain costs

Sir – Over the past 20 years, many medical practitioners have treated me for lower back pain, and recently I made enquiries in Settle.

I explained what I needed to a very pleasant receptionist, who assured me that as I requested, my full history would be gone over, diagnosis arrived at, suitable manipulative treatment given, and a regime of suitable exercises identified and explained.

I was delighted to be promised exactly what I'd hoped for, until I learned that this would all be accomplished in half an hour.

As a business model, this would seem to be unconnected to the interests of the patient, and more in line with maximising profit.

As a medical proposition, it is simply not feasible – and therefore from my point of view, would be a complete waste of money and time.

I've decided to stick with sole practitioners who, I have found, often take a different approach, and as much time as is necessary. They also answer their phones personally.

Kerry Burns, Low Bentham

Homeless appeal

Sir – Your readers may well be aware that homelessness is on the rise across the UK, with a 31 per cent increase in rough sleeping over the last two years alone.

I’m writing to you about St Mungo’s Woolly Hat Day on Friday, January 31, when we’re asking people to generously support our work with homeless and vulnerable people by putting a hat on and raising funds and awareness. At St Mungo’s we support rough sleepers off the streets and into emergency accommodation, help people recover from homelessness through housing, health and skills services and work to prevent people ending up without a place to call home.

St Mungo’s Woolly Hat Day is a fun way to show your support as we’re reminded about those sleeping on the streets when the weather turns colder. Schools, offices and community groups are supporting us, along with celebrity campaign supporters Joanna Lumley and comedian Alexei Sayle.

Please get involved by hosting a hat themed event, sponsoring someone to wear a hideous hat or simply pull on that trusted old beanie for the day. Find out more at www.woollyhatday.org You can also get involved by taking part in our Woolly Hat Day celebrity hat auction, where you can bid for hats donated by stars including Elton John, Adam Ant, Chris Martin, Elvis Costello, Michael Buble and even a deerstalker signed by Sherlock himself, Benedict Cumberbatch.

Thank you and please enjoy and support Woolly Hat Day 2014.

Tanya English, Executive Director of Fundraising and Communications, St Mungo’s