Mystified by dog waste 'offerings'

Then I noticed five similar bags further along the shrubbery. To move them seemed a step too far.

I called at Rackhams, and spoke to a manager, who said she wasn’t sure whether the shrubbery belonged to Rackhams, and anyway, it was not their responsibility.

Next, I rang Craven District Council, and left a message. A dog warden rang back, and said she would arrange for the cleansing department to remove the offending items, plus the bottles and other litter which also reside in the shrubbery.

When I walked past on Saturday, I counted 11 poo-bags, some skilfully fastened to trees, but mercifully all black, not the corset-pink which sometimes appears. The rest of the litter is still there as well.

Once again, one is mystified by the mentality of these phantom dog owners. What do they think happens to their offerings?

I have been told, by a dog warden, that it is acceptable to put the bags into an ordinary council bin, and as there are such bins only a few yards away there is no reason for these not to be used instead of the shrubbery. Perhaps the council could advertise this fact more widely?

Recently I attended a meeting at the town hall, concerning the development of Albion Square, and the need to make it attractive to visitors. I raised the matter of the problems discussed above, and shall now send a copy of this letter to the conveners of the meeting.

Sheila Coe Otley Street Skipton Is it a dog’s life?

Sir - Where oh where can one get a cup of tea/coffee or lunch in a cafe or tearoom where there are no dogs under or near every table?

My husband and I called in a cafe during a walk last weekend, where by the time we had eaten our meal there were six dogs there - one (or two) under nearly every table.

We have had many similar experiences in the past, eg a pub in Appletreewick had seven dogs blocking the access; also four very large dogs taking up half the floor area in a cafe in Grassington; and six dogs in a small cafe in St Ives, etc.

Is there anywhere where no dogs are allowed inside? Gone, it seems, is the time when it was considered unhygienic to have dogs inside premises which serve food to the public. What has happened to that?

It is the same outside - one cannot take a walk in a park or public beauty spot, eg Skipton Woods, Strid Woods, St Ives, Aireville Park, etc, without dogs taking over where non-dog owners bare expected to accept/accommodate being molested and pestered by badly behaved/untrained animals sniffing around and jumping up with mucky paws on clothing.

How delightful it would be to enjoy a walk in our beautiful countryside without dogs making themselves a nuisance to others. Many dog owners appear to be illiterate because many signs are ignored, eg “keep dogs on a lead”, “keep dogs out of the river” and “do not allow your dogs to disturb other people”. These signs apparently don’t apply to them.

We seem to have an explosion/epidemic in the number of dogs in the past two to three years. They seem to be everywhere. As for the mess they make... bags of poo stuffed in wall crevices or left hanging on tree branches are utterly disgusting.

Perhaps it is time that hefty licences were reintroduced.

E Whiting Bradley Questions for council Sir - Following your illuminating article with regards to senior management issues at Craven District Council (Council is forced to reveal £50k payout, February 26) may I help to make progress in fully informing your readers.

During a debate at a policy committee meeting at Craven Council in mid-2014 I asked for a full disclosure of the financial implications of the continued absence of the section 151 finance officer. Members were informed that all matters in this respect were included in the current year’s budget. Officers refused to give details of what had been paid to whom and what for.

I am not in favour of confidentiality agreements which involve the payment of public monies. However, it is now clear that Craven District Council was grossly at fault in not disclosing the £50,000 settlement and the said £250 legal costs when requested.

I have asked the monitoring officer at Craven District Council for detailed answers to the following questions on direct and indirect costs of this distasteful debacle and for these to be made public knowledge.

1. The full legal costs of the section 151 officer paid by Craven District Council?

2. The full legal costs of Craven District Council in relation to this matter?

3. The full cost of all consultants involved and paid by Craven District Council?

4. The extent and full cost of salary paid and oncosts when on sick and extended leave of the section 151 finance officer?

5. The full cost of person/persons employed to carry out the duties of the section 151 finance officer while absent on sick and extended leave?

6. A reasonable assessment of all other officer time in dealing with this issue?

Many members of Craven District Council feel we have lost a dedicated section 151 finance officer who very significantly contributed to providing and protecting public services across Craven. Hopefully all involved have learnt important lessons on the management and mismanagement of personnel issues. The bottom line is that you, the council taxpayer, have picked up the bill.

Robert G Heseltine Independent county, district and town councillor, Skipton South Newmarket Street Skipton Payout is ‘our money’ Sir – Craven Ratepayers’ Action Group (CRAG) has been taken to task regarding the article in last week’s Craven Herald (Council is forced to reveal £50k payout). In that article, it was stated that: “Alan Perrow of CRAG claimed Mrs Miller had been treated poorly” and this, whilst true, is slightly misleading. Yes Mrs Miller was treated poorly, but not by giving her £50,000 when she went immediately to another job.

Mrs Miller was – in CRAG’s opinion – treated very poorly indeed. In 2013 she took sick leave from February to August, in 2014 she took sick leave from March to August, followed by her leaving, with £50,000 of our money and a signed confidentiality clause. She had stated that there was an inappropriate culture at Craven District Council which she found hard to stomach.

The Joanna Miller affair should never – again in the opinion of CRAG – have been allowed to happen.

The £50,000 paid to Joanna Miller, along with a gagging clause, is public money – our money, and not one single person has been taken to task over this, indeed former leader Cllr Chris Knowles-Fitton now resides in Devon, but continues to receive his council allowances, a state of affairs accepted by the council’s standards monitoring officer.

Not all councillors voted for this secrecy, but three who did are Councillors Brockbank, Foster, and Turner. This has never been denied, and voters might like to reflect on this.

Alan Perrow CRAG Bannister Walk Cowling ‘Avoidable’ tragedy Sir - Why could doctors, visited by Julie McCabe 20 times (Mum went into coma after dyeing hair, inquest is told, February 19), not remove the cause of the allergy, her hair dye? Why were they only treating her symptoms?

Surely Mrs McCabe would have altered her beauty routine if her doctors had strongly advised her of the necessity for her health.

About 15 years ago we had to take our child to a private allergy clinic as a GP refused to consider a dust allergy diagnosis and preferred to prescribe an inhaler, despite the father having the allergy.

The clinic’s advice, to remove a bathroom rug and use an anti-allergen mattress cover, produced a miracle cure of his wheeze within days.

Mrs McCabe’s is a sad death which might have been avoided.

E Brunswick (Mrs) Main Street Cononley Concern for bus future Sir - As we are over halfway into the year that Kirby Lonsdale Coaches took over the Pennine Buses routes in Ribblesdale to Skipton, etc, perhaps it is time to consider the future.

This was taken on with a trial basis and if successful could be permanent, yet if not profitable would not continue.

I have discussed this with many people who are naturally worried. Suggestions of paying a small contribution of a £1 or so or how to subsidise the cost always arise.

Well, it is either bus pass or pay, it is that simple, legislation will not allow a variation. I fully understand there are many who cannot afford to pay and have no choice but to use their pass and will carry on doing so.

But I know many who are still working or affluent enough to pay and refuse to do so, and that is their choice and that is the problem. Why not use your pass one-way only, maybe every alternative trip, maybe every three trips or so?

We all need to ensure the service remains and safeguard the buses for the future, because if come July the operators think it is not viable it will cease operations. There will be no bailout, no rescue package, no subsidy, no buses, that is the reality.

I make no apologies if this sounds alarming, but I am pointing out the facts as they are and we need to consider our travel plans in the future. Use it or lose it is the old cliche, maybe it should be use it and pay for it or lose it. (For those who can.) Cllr Richard Welch Raines Road Giggleswick What it takes to pass Sir - Mr Hitchen (Letters, March 5) obviously has no idea as to what is required to pass the 11-plus entry exam for Ermysted’s.

l It does not take two to three years l It does not require expensive coaching l It will not cost thousands of pounds.

I know having had both my sons attend that school.

What it does take is parents spending a little time (depending on the child’s ability) - say one hour per week over the space of a couple of months at most - with the child going through past papers - bought at little cost either in book shops or over the internet.

Being a parent means just that, don’t sit back and expect everyone else to do the work, and certainly don’t moan on about things you don’t understand.

Paul Messenger Embsay How do HGVs deliver?

Sir - I read that there are plans to close Jerry Croft to large vehicles, a point which from a safety vision I agree with. I wish to point out, how are we going to get large delivery vehicles to deliver to, say, Marks & Spencers?

These are normally articulated and I must assume that these will be required to enter the car park area and then have to turn round and reverse down to the delivery bay.

I would like to point out that this is going to be difficult and dangerous, along with it being an awkward manoeuvre for the drivers of these vehicles.

The delivery, in law, would also need rear end supervision from a banks man.

Z A Pavilionis Hill Top Close Embsay l Editor’s note: Craven District Council commissioned a study which suggested there could be some traffic restrictions placed on part of Jerry Croft. The council has now asked for a separate assessment of the feasibility of any such restrictions.

It’s the ‘silly season’ Sir - The silly season - electioneering - is clearly upon us. Councillors are coming out of hiding for example. Cllr John Dawson, for example, in your February 19 edition finally getting up the courage to comment on Jerry Croft - some four weeks after the issues were raised by the real active and concerned citizenry.

All the nonsense about Jerry Croft would be solved in the short term by temporary speed bumps to enforce the 5mph speed limit - this applies equally applies to Otley Street and Albion Yard (behind Rackhams) where the selfish and thoughtless urban tractor drivers plough along regardless of pedestrian safety and in wet weather happily soaking them.

Photos opportunities are also abounding. Mr Julian Smith in last week’s edition - never failing to get at least one mugshot in a week - is seen supporting a cancer charity. A bit much when his Government ploughs on with NHS privatisation, costing it and us a large fortune better spent on cancer research and treatment. How ironic!

He would spend his time better fixing the river flowing onto Otley Street from beside Party HQ. I fully expect Julian to have his photo in this week at the attendance of a letter opening.

Finally, on a positive note, despite the BBC’s appalling attempt to rubbish the Greens, local party support continues to rise, unlike any of the so called main parties, and we talk and act on local issues like the towpath lights and canal pollution.

James J Paton C/o 23 Water Street Skipton North Ward Lights query drags on Sir - I am a member of the Young Greens Skipton. This is not a political plea; this is a show of my disgust at how a small request can be dragged on for months.

My first project as a Young Green is to get the lights on the canal path lit again. My main area of focus is the stone bridge near town and the swing bridge by Aireville Park.

I feel like this is an important thing as many school and college students walk along there at early evening. Even at 4pm (in winter and autumn) it’s beginning to get dark.

I personally finish college at 5pm, by this time the canal is a place I don’t walk down as you can’t see anything. If the canal was lit I would walk down there as it is quicker to get home and a nicer way to walk.

I started my project thinking it would be a simple one: I would email a few people and they would switch the lights back on. I could not have been more wrong. I have been passed from pillar to post.

My first contact was to the Skipton Town Council, thinking the canal path is in Skipton town. I then got moved onto the North Yorkshire County Council. They then blamed some other people and gave me another email address as it is not their problem.

However, before I started emailing these unhelpful councils, we produced a YouTube video to show how dangerous the canal path is. We filmed this at 6pm, where many people could be walking along the path; however, as it is pitch black we only came across a few brave souls.

After an afternoon of research I discovered that British Waterways withered and died in 2002. How convenient! Words do not even begin to express how annoyed I am at people telling the ‘creative’ truth.

Did you know that Skipton Town Council didn’t know that British Waterways and the Canal and River Trust are connected? Anybody can find that out. It takes two seconds. When you go onto the British Waterways website it redirects you to the Canal and River Trust. That shows you how oblivious they are to things happening around them.

It occurs to me that the lights down Aireville Park work fine. So my question is: Why do the lights work down the park but not the canal path, when the paths are clearly linked together?

Also why are organisations and councils being so unhelpful by answering my questions with answers they know to be 100 per cent right? It’s always: “maybe try…” or, “I believe it’s”. I never get a straight answer.

I also found out that a local Liberal Democrat attempted to get the lights back on but got no where. So I really hope I have more success.

To watch the YouTube clip go to YouTube then Skipton students at risk. Or show your support on Facebook at Young Greens Skipton, or Twitter @YGreensSkipton. Or email us at younggreensskipton@hotmail.com Eleanor Hartley Smith Upper Sackville Street Skipton Not all ‘on the make’ Sir - Whilst out campaigning on the streets I have been surprised by how many people think everyone standing in the election must be on the make. Some of us are, however, putting ourselves forward because we want to offer an alternative.

I expect to end up out of pocket from standing in Skipton and Ripon. I am doing so because I think local people need the chance to send a message that they have had enough of suffering austerity whilst bankers enjoy £370 billion of free money from quantitative easing, have had enough of badly thought-out wars that leave us more vulnerable, and have had enough of politicians chasing short-term popularity whilst the long-term costs of environmental damage mount up.

In the extraordinarily unlikely event that I actually win in Skipton and Ripon I can assure people that £67,000 a year is plenty enough and I will not be taking second jobs or dubious payments to help influence Parliament.

My party can also cope very well without taking money from large corporations. Last year the Greens received £248,520 in donations which averages out at £5 per head from the existing membership of over 50,000.

As a consequence we don’t owe anything to anyone and can say exactly what we like without fear of annoying our sponsors. If this means that we occasionally lack a bit of professional polish then so be it. I would rather we were honest. Isn’t that what we want from our representatives?

Andy Brown Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Greens for Skipton and Ripon Main Street Cononley Vote record attacked Sir - Julian Smith has been notable by his absence on several important votes in the House of Commons. The following is a list of some of the key votes he has missed in the last year: l Second jobs for MPs l Bankers' Bonus Tax l Onshore wind farms l Badger culling l Bedroom tax l Reducing tax avoidance l NHS reorganisation l Local bus services l Modern slavery l Delay in disbandment of Army units.

Mr Smith is meant to represent the people of this constituency in House of Commons votes. Why is he not doing his job? Could it be that these votes were uncomfortable for him? We need an MP who does not go AWOL when things get tricky.

Bob Holland Skipton Road Cononley