Impact on residents of not having a plan

And once again residents voicing real concerns as to the appropriateness of such a scheme. And as usual, no valid reasons to turn down the planning application in the absence of a Craven Local Plan.

I am getting sick of hearing this. I attended a meeting years ago in the Town Hall, when the subject of Elsey Croft was under discussion. The chief planning officer said exactly those same words.

Who, in the name of all that’s sensible, is ultimately responsible for producing this plan? How far has he/she got with it - 10 per cent, 87 per cent, 43 per cent? Have they even started thinking about it yet?

Because until they get it finished it seems that we will have to accept any and every bit of development foisted upon us, whether we like it or not.

If this was a piece of GCSE coursework, I’d be keeping somebody in detention every day until they got it finished.

Caroline Hewison Regent Drive Skipton The finest place Sir - I would just like to mention through your paper just how wonderful the ongoing “Settle Flowerpot Festival” is and pass on my thanks and admiration for all the hard work of the organisers and those that have contributed to making a vast array of wonderful and imaginative figures that adorn this wonderful town and surrounding villages.

Those who decreed Skipton as the finest place to live in the country clearly didn’t visit Settle before making that decision.

The festival runs until the end of August. Don’t miss it!

Tim Cannon Sandholme Close Giggleswick Settle Treasured space Sir - As a resident of Otley Street and a friend of the bowling club, I am so glad that Craven District Council no longer intends to annexe the bowling green for further car parking.

However, the bowling club members remain concerned, since they fear the council will seek to raise their rental to an unacceptable level.

The £500 a year that they currently pay is, it appears, seen as a mere peppercorn rent.

To the members of the club, many of whom are pensioners of very limited means, this is certainly not so - particularly as the club has always maintained the site, superbly, without any input from the council. (That is until a few weeks ago, when they suddenly repaired the roof of the clubhouse - I wonder why?) The bowling green and the stand of trees alongside give great pleasure, both to Skipton residents and visitors alike, and for us residents of Otley Street whose backyards, in which young children play, are only feet away from the green, it gives some protection from the noise and noxious fumes emitted by the cars, lorries and coaches in the car park.

In the past 10 days, with very little effort, hundreds of people have signed our petition asking the council to renew the bowling club’s contract at an acceptable rental.

After all, the council has to pay for the maintenance of all the other public green spaces in Skipton - which, alas, are all too few in the centre of town.

Margaret R Brown Otley Street Skipton Shocked by article Sir - I was shocked by some of the comments in last week’s “Thought for the week”.

To compare our military providing security at the London Olympics with the Nazi soldiers’ presence at the 1936 Berlin Olympics is a travesty and an insult to our armed forces. They were present to protect those attending from the threat of terrorism, not to show off their power.

To then talk of the “hijacking of Armistice Day” and “making it into Armed Forces Day” shows ignorance and confusion.

They are firstly two separate days at different times of the year.

Second, neither is to do other than remember the sacrifices of the armed forces in the past and present on behalf of us all and to thank them for this.

I was proud recently to take part in the flag raising and flag lowering in Skipton to launch and end Armed Forces Week.

The first duty of any government is to protect its people. Those in the front line of this are our armed forces, and we can be proud of what they have done and still do on our behalf.

To say that this is all the action of a government wanting to support spending on the armed forces looks a little strange when we are seeing major reductions in spending on defence.

It is weakness that leads those with bad intentions such as the Nazis or the Islamist terrorists to cause war and terror, not strength and resolve.

John Dawson Gainsborough Court Skipton Not Grand for dogs Sir - What a wonderful occasion was the Grand Depart!

From being somewhat jaded with Le Tour as a result of continued negative publicity - tales of road closures, disruption, and even the seemingly age-old dispute between cyclists and other road users - come the day, I found myself captivated and carried along with the sheer electric atmosphere of the event. The race itself was, of course, the star of the show - how we marvelled at the sheer speed of the riders! - but even before the publicity caravan surged through Skipton, the air was buzzing with excitement and anticipation.

I have never seen so many human beings in one place as there were on Skipton High Street and the Canal Basin on Saturday, even after the race had departed and as far as I could see, there were no issues with the crowds.

Bearing in mind the sheer volume of people, I simply cannot understand the mentality of anyone who took a dog onto the High Street.

Closely-packed, noisy crowds, from which there is no escape for several hours, must be the canine equivalent of Hell; being trampled on, trodden on, pushed around or kicked (hopefully accidentally...) is highly stressful for even the most placid dog, particularly when temperatures start to rise.

I saw several dogs showing signs of anxiety, clearly overwhelmed by it all.

If one of those dogs had lashed out or nipped someone as a reaction to stress, it would inevitably have been regarded as the dog’s fault, and it may have paid the ultimate price for its actions.

Doubtless there will be a defensive response from dog owners - after all, it’s never their dog which barks incessantly at all hours, fouls the pavement, jumps up or bites.

However, it’s not so much the behaviour of “man’s best friend” which is brought to question here, as that of irresponsible owners which, in dragging their presumably much-loved pet into such a situation, amounts to cruelty.

Mrs C A Myers Victoria Street Sutton-in-Craven It’s a locals issue Sir - I refer to your article in last week’s Craven Herald where Councillor Calvin Dow was thanking local people for the support during the Tour de France day and was offering to reward them by offering “substantially “ reduced prices on his beer in the Castle pub.

No mention of the fact that he “substantially” raised his prices on Tour de France day.

I visit Skipton very regularly and consider myself “local”, and feel it is discriminatory to give to just whom he considers “local”.

B Smith Skipton Road Barnoldswick Issues, not attacks Sir - I would firstly like to congratulate our new councillors on the town, district and county councils for their success at the recent by-elections.

However, it is disappointing that the new town and county councillors use their thank you letters in your paper (July 10) to criticise their party political opponents.

It is ironic that these two newly elected councillors, who claim to be independent of party politics, are the very ones who have made political attacks on others. This was clearly evidenced in their recent election literature.

It is pleasing that their letters correctly noted that the local issues were the focus of their opponents’ local election leaflets rather than national party politics; this is how it should be.

Their criticism of their opponents for not focussing on national party politics in the recent elections seems misplaced given that local issues should be the focus of local elections.

I am pleased that the Conservative literature upheld this and that campaigning was carried out with integrity. I am proud that members of the local Conservative Party did not make personal attacks on rivals and am saddened that other candidates felt the need to do so.

Once the new town councillor gains some experience of local politics and has taken up her seat on Skipton Town Council, she will see that the existing councillors, who are affiliated to political parties, do not base their decision making on party politics but on best interest decisions for Skipton as a whole. We are committed to improving the already wonderful town in which we live and growing future prosperity.

Cllr Wendy Clark Skipton Town Council Regent Crescent Skipton Need for challenge Sir – I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the voters of Skipton west who voted in the recent Craven District Council election.

I would also like to thank all the Labour Party supporters, from across the constituency, who worked so hard to help me in my campaign to win the seat.

I intend to fight for all the citizens of Craven, but particularly the local people who have suffered. The families caught in the rented housing sector unable to take the first step onto the ownership ladder, the individuals and families caught in the legal aid decimation scandal, and the students taking on unreasonable debts to fulfil their personal potential. Craven needs a Labour challenge.

Peter Madeley Alexandra Court Skipton Focus on culture Sir - Skipton and the Dales, as well as being a sporting mecca, is also a cultural mecca. From October to March we have the concerts given by Skipton Music (new brochure now available) and then the rest of the time Skipton Camerata fills our musical needs.

The Camerata works from Skipton Girls’ High School and has done a great deal to bring music to the school, including leasing of the Yamaha piano and leasing of many brand new musical instruments for the girls to play. This all instigated by Ben Crick, director of the Camerata.

Let us hope the new headmistress will also be musically inclined so that this wonderful tradition can continue.

The recent chamber recital concert at the high school was an hour of sheer delight. A cello recital with the major work being Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata in G played by Douglas Badger. A stunning performance.

All live music must be supported and fortunately in our area there are many music lovers who firmly believe this.... but larger audiences are always appreciated.

Rowena (Bunty) Leder Grassington End the suffering Sir - When this government came to power it pledged to reduce the number of animals used in vivisection.

But the number of animal experiments in 2013 was the highest in nearly 30 years.

There is an attempt to conceal the bad news by suggesting that the exponential increase in the use of genetically modified (GM) animals does not somehow represent animal suffering.

But, as Animal Aid’s detailed investigations have shown, GM animals are subjected to some of the most horrific torments imaginable.

Part of the tragedy is that these animal victims are sacrificed pointlessly. The data extracted so violently from them cannot be reliably applied to human medicine.

And yet there are so many non-animal, human-relevant research methods, such as the use of human cells and tissues, computer modelling and studies on human volunteers.

Biomedical researchers have a duty to embrace such methods wholeheartedly, so that animals can be saved from the pain and misery of the laboratory, and human medicine can stand a genuine chance of progress.

Isobel Hutchinson Campaigner Animal Aid The Old Chapel Bradford Street Tonbridge Kent