Time to be positive about town’s future

Litter is a universal British problem but with limited resources the High Street and bus station are kept remarkably clean - the setts create a special problem - although I agree the vandalised boards and bus timetables are a disgrace.

I’m afraid in these days of budget cutbacks the Big Society means that often the community has to look after itself. Middletown residents have their own litter-picking team of mainly elderly volunteers who twice a week clean the Ginnel Park and one volunteer in the autumn sweeps the steps of leaves.

Unpopular as the idea is, I’m afraid the responsibility for a clean neighbourhood is often down to us.

We are all aware of and concerned about the number of empty shops but the question is ‘why?’ and: “Can we do anything about it?”

One shop, long empty, is now advertising ‘reduced rent’ and a successful business left with reluctance after being expected to take a 15-year lease. Perhaps the town and district councils need to facilitate a meeting to discuss with landlords their plans for the High Street and business improvement.

I’m sure readers know of high streets that are bucking the trend and can come up with imaginative ideas for Skipton High Street. Perhaps a business action group could be formed that will see the end of so many empty shops and bring back creative retailing to Skipton. Now that spring is here it is time for positivity.

Christine Walton Neville Street Skipton ‘Noble and beautiful’ Skipton ‘gone downhill’? Steady on!

Our Skipton is a noble and beautiful little town - a jewel surrounded by gorgeous countryside that Canada with its great expanses of unvaried monotony can only envy.

Skipton, itself, is a tourist attraction. Look at Holy Trinity Church, the ancient castle and wood, the canal system, the stone buildings, the town’s lovely approaches into it and the panoramic views around it. No wonder house prices are high.

People want to live here. Canada’s cheap real estate should tell you the opposite about living there.

Maybe our Town Hall is a bit grubby. History does that. But at least it’s not built of clapboard like its Canadian counterparts.

Believe me, I know. I grew up in Canada and still have memories of the soulless place with its depressing thrown-up-over-night towns bereft of any charm, character, intrigue or beauty. Skipton could be cleaner but the fact remains - no matter how dirty it gets it will always remain beautiful.

Perhaps the tourist attraction you’re looking for is a typical Canadian one, ie a pristine bowling alley or a swarm of voracious mosquitoes.

Lois Brothwell Old Union Square Skipton Vibrancy returned Sir - It’s very sad to read the letters lamenting the decline of Skipton High Street since it was named ‘Great Street of the Year 2009’. I’m sure that there are many theories as to why this decline has occurred and there will be much discussion taking place as to what can be done to reverse the decline.

What is illustrated by this situation is the ‘fragile’ nature of our high streets in these extremely competitive times and the huge challenge faced by those who strive to ensure that their high streets maintain their vitality and appeal and continue to both service the needs of the local community and attract the precious visitors whose spending makes such a significant contribution to the local economy.

Just a few years ago Settle was facing a similar decline. There were quite a few empty shops, pubs were closed or barely hanging on and the central area was looking tired and shabby. There was a prevailing and depressing mood that the town’s decline was inevitable and that little could be done to turn it round. Pride in the town was very low.

It was at this time that the Vibrant Settle Community Partnership was formed with the ambition of reversing the decline and returning vibrancy to the town. It was recognised that this was going to be a difficult goal to achieve. There was no ‘silver bullet’ to make things right, just a lot of small changes that over time would start to make the difference. The partnership also recognised that the drive towards restoring vibrancy had to embrace, engage and motivate all sections of the community; businesses, residents, community groups and organisations, churches, schools and visitor attractions.

We can see that vibrancy is returning to Settle. Many of the shops have been refitted and spruced up, shops are quickly being re-let when they become vacant, local inns and hotels have been refurbished, the Town Hall (now in private ownership) is standing proud once more, Victoria Hall is buzzing with all sorts of events and local businesses are winning national awards. Undoubtedly the mood in the town has changed.

The developing success of Settle is not being achieved by the injection of large public grants or local government initiatives but by a great investment of energy and money by local individuals, businesses and community groups. That’s not to say that engagement and help from our local councillors wouldn’t be welcomed as there are some issues only they can address. The public toilets in Settle are a long-standing disgrace. Also, poor management of traffic through and around the town centre can make for an unnerving and off-putting experience for locals and visitors alike.

Vibrant town centres are very precious and essential components of civic pride that must be cherished and nurtured if they are to play a full and significant role in contributing to local economic success.

I hope that Skipton will find the means to reverse its fortunes and Settle will continue on an upward journey, bringing increasing prosperity and pride to the local community.

Steve Amphlett Vibrant Settle Community Partnership Halsteads Cottages Settle How to comment?

Sir - Following on from last week’s letters regarding secrecy and concerns over projects in Skipton, may I through you column express total dissatisfaction of viewing plans of the construction of 110 houses off North Parade.

Having received a letter from the council inviting us to view the plans for this large project, being available at the offices or online, several neighbours had tried unsuccessfully to download the plans.

So I called in and asked to view these plans to be told that: 1. Had I made an appointment?

2. The plans could be in a warehouse.

A member of staff then showed me a wall monitor, which took a while to open, to see a full page of PDF icons, quite a number called site plans. No cross references were available.

After opening several we found one that could be relevant. Due to the size of the monitor and its location I was unable to see any details of these plans. I asked for a copy to be told copyright was reserved to the architects.

After obtaining the architects’ name address I rang to ask for details, also to be told they had problems downloading and it was down to the council. After discussions I was kindly sent an email with attachments from the architects. Even then viewing was very restricted.

The community centre would have been the ideal location to fully view these plans, therefore allowing relevant neighbours who will be affected by this huge development to be able to understand the vastness and problems it will incur.

How can the council expect residents to comment when you cannot fully see the plans? Do we just have to sit back and take whatever the council see fit to throw at local residents?

Greatwood School is neighbouring to this site, will the council instil any restrictions over the movement of heavy plant and its effect?

The whole of Skipton will be affected by this as well as other projects, eg Elsey Croft and Lovell’s houses by the canal. All in beautiful fields surrounding Skipton.

I have lived in Skipton over 50 years and all I can say is it has lost its quaint market town appeal and is becoming an urbanisation.

Mrs Jean Barton North Parade Skipton An open question Sir - Once again Craven District Council are making decisions behind closed doors. When will they come into the 21st century, in which government has clearly stated that all meetings of the council’s executive and its committees must be open to the public except in limited defined circumstances.

There are two such circumstances, one of which is where disclosure would be likely to result in a breach of a legal obligation to a third party, and the other is where it is necessary to exclude the public to prevent misbehaviour.

These are the only two mandatory cases where the public must be excluded from meetings and, with regard to one of them, it would be interesting to learn why and how any council could involve itself in secret legal obligations that have to be hidden from its electors.

It is true there is also a list of exempt information which the council can choose to keep secret if it so desires, but it has no obligation to do so and, in fact, can only do so if the public interest in keeping it secret outweighs the pubic interest in bringing it into the public domain.

The question for the voters of Craven, therefore, is whether their councillors are taking seriously their democratic obligation to promote openness, or whether the worryingly frequent secret decisions mean they are unaware, or careless, of this obligation.

John Weatherill Flasby Problems persisting Sir - I agree entirely with Graham Threadgold’s letter (April 2) on the continuing problems with Lovell’s development at Granville Street, and on Craven District Council (CDC) still proposing to proceed again with Lovell at Horse Close, another CDC-owned site.

For 21 months, Lovell have failed to programme and manage their works here so as to keep disruption to neighbouring residents including those in Hall Croft to the unavoidable minimum. They have ignored various conditions of their planning approvals from CDC, and parts of the works do not match approved drawings. The site has frequently been a mess, with mud spread over adjoining streets for months. They have treated parts of the Aireville Park edge as their site, apparently without prior consent of the owner (CDC).

While houses for sale have gone up quickly, the two blocks of flats remain unroofed and open to the winter weather after 12 months. Unless you’re in a desert, since Roman times it has been sound practice to put up the shell and roof it as soon as possible. They appear to be on their fourth site manager. As an architect, recently retired after 40 years practice in London and Yorkshire, I would not have wanted this team on any tender list.

But, for 21 months, Craven DC (elected members, executive and professional officers) have not taken effective action to ensure that Lovell do comply with the reasonable requirements of their planning consents.

Lovell are a commercial firm, of course; they have no long-term interest in Skipton. Craven DC, on the other hand, are our representatives, elected and paid for by the residents and businesses of Skipton and Craven to consider and look after the future best interests of this town and district and people.

Yes, we do need new housing, but it can be designed well and built carefully, with regard to the particular context of each site. This did not happen at Granville Street. Whatever the reasons for CDC’s failure adequately to control Lovell at Granville Street, they must now learn the tough lessons and raise their game. Apply appropriate conditions to any approval, and enforce strict compliance from day one. The unhappy experiences here must not be visited on residents near the Elsey Croft and Horse Close developments.

Finally, while financial terms of the sale might be argued to be ‘commercial in confidence’, Craven DC need to be entirely transparent with the public about all details of any ‘design brief’ or ‘specification’ for their Horse Close site before the developer submits their planning application. CDC did not admit to residents that there had been further undisclosed amendments to their ‘specification’ for the Granville Street site that Skipton Developments (aka CDC) had previously proudly published to reassure us that our interests would be protected.

Michael Devenish Granville Street Skipton Issues in Israel Sir - Please allow me to briefly address a few of the numerous misconceptions contained in letters concerning the above from Messrs Edwards and Eaves (Letters, April 2).

1. “the land was given to Israel by a British mandate”. In the Covenant of the League of Nations (1919), Article 22, Palestine’s existence as an ‘independent nation’ was ‘provisionally recognised’. Only in the Palestine Mandate, a legal instrument of the covenant, did the notion of a ‘homeland’ for the Jews (as in the Balfour Declaration) appear. Neither the British (occupiers) nor the League of Nations had a legal claim to Palestine. Many experts of international law regard the mandate for this reason to be null and void (eg Prof Henry Cattan: “The Palestine Mandate was invalid on three grounds …).

2. “As Golda Meir said: …”. Golda Meir also said: “There were no such thing [sic] as Palestinians.”

3. “the people of Israel voted for Netanyahu”. 23.4 per cent of a turnout of 72.3 per cent voted for Likud; that is 16.9 per cent of the electorate (about one in six) voted for Mr Netanyahu.

4. “young [Palestinian] people ...throwing rocks at cars with an Israeli number plate”. Whilst no one condones the firing of Hamas rockets at civilians, acts such as throwing stones are trivial when compared to the dropping by the IDF last summer of 20,000 tonnes of explosive (equivalent of two low-yield tactical nuclear weapons) on densely populated civilian areas of Gaza.

Thus, is it not time to honour the pledge made to the Palestinians in 1919 and grant them statehood, if only on 22 per cent of their Palestine Mandate territory?

R Sykes Park View Skipton Finding solutions Sir - Peter Eaves started his letter “To give Palestinians their own state on Israeli land …”. Does he not realise that, in effect, Britain ‘gave’ Zionists their own state on Palestinian land? Britain was there as a result of conquest, having pushed back the Ottoman Empire (with the help of Arabs), not by divine right, and not for the first or last time aggravated an already tense situation by its crude diplomacy.

It is worth remembering that the oft-quoted Balfour Declaration in support of a Jewish state included the words… it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine… There are at least two sides to this problem and it doesn’t help if this is not recognised. We are fortunate that we now have the United Nations to help find solutions to world disputes and Britain should give the UN its full support rather than letting prejudice get in the way.

Peter Copestake Castle Road Colne Protecting countryside Sir - I have been made aware of the CPRE campaign to protect the countryside from development. I recently attended a fringe meeting that considered the risks to the countryside, particularly by housing and commercial development, at our Lib Dem Conference in Liverpool in March. I have also spoken on the matter at several conferences and have called for the need to allow appeals by the community as well as by developers. At present the system is loaded in favour of developers.

In recent years, I have fought to protect greenbelt land from development and I have been involved for over two years in a contested development which seeks to develop an area of prime agricultural land. Several areas of this constituency, including prime agricultural land, are under threat from aggressive developers seeking to build lucrative housing developments. It is important to have strong local plans but even where they are in place developers seem to have the upper hand. Planning regulations may take account of education infrastructure but they often ignore other infrastructure needs like sewerage, transport and health. I strongly support a right to a Community Appeal, to give communities a voice against monied developers, and I also strongly support considering brownfield possibilities before looking at greenfield sites.

As well as protecting the countryside, Liberal Democrats also plan to introduce five laws for a greener Britain: a Nature Act; a Green Homes Act; a Zero Waste Britain Act; a Zero Carbon Britain Act; and a Green Transport Act. Full details of these are available on our local and national websites.

Jacquie Bell Parliamentary candidate Skipton and Ripon Liberal Democrats Belhaven Dunbar Room for efficiency Sir - In his response to the contents of my letter (April 2) Bruce McLeod of Otterburn mentions an increase in child poverty, and the number of people on low pay, inferring that it is a result of the government’s policies.

As I said in my ‘blustering’ (according to Mr McLeod) letter, the economy is in the best position since the Labour government left it in a mess, and will continue to improve, given the chance, if the Conservatives win at the election. Without a vibrant economy there is no chance for a reduction in the amount of poverty, however defined, or sustainable increases in the general levels of pay, and the prospects for such would be abysmal if a Labour government led by Ed Miliband and Ed Balls were to be returned to power.

As for Mr McLeod’s wish for all public-sector jobs to be reinstated, this would mean a return to the inefficiencies encouraged by Gordon Brown’s policy of increasing the number of public-sector jobs to try to ensure more future Labour voters to support him.

I was working freelance (yes, and on zero hours contract) for nearly two years for a local authority between 2008 and 2010. I was in a large department, with a desk and access to the authority’s intranet. I had a working relationship with many of the people in the department, and I estimate that this department could have worked just as well, and definitely more efficiently, with just half the number of people there.

The local authority in question covered a population of under 160,000, and yet had over 80 people in its ‘human resources’ department according to the internal telephone directory. Just imagine what the other departments were like.

It’s no wonder that approaching 30 per cent of the council tax we pay goes towards paying for local authority pensions. Of course there are many frontline public-sector jobs that are essential and should not be cut, but there has been, and probably still is, room for more efficiency cuts in other areas. The reduction of the numbers of jobs in the public sector has been more than offset by the increase in private-sector employment since 2010.

Mr McLeod also seems to think that the aim is to privatise the NHS. This is just a scare tactic that the Labour party resorts to because they do not have sufficient viable policy proposals to back up their election bid, and as we all know, Ed Miliband is on record as saying he wanted to ‘weaponise’ the NHS.

Richard Colley Park Avenue Skipton Losing argument?

Sir - On your letters page of April 2 Mr Richard Colley complained against the use of statistics by the Labour Party Parliamentary candidate, Malcolm Birks. Could it be that he and his fellow Tories have lost the argument?

Chris Rose Hurrs Road Skipton