SIR - I was delighted to read in last week’s paper your article about Richard Wadwell’s forthcoming sky dive to raise money for Guide Dogs. Sharp-eyed readers may have recognised that the building in the background of the picture of Richard and his guide dog Ralph is in fact The Folly in Settle, home to the Museum of North Craven Life.

Richard, with characteristic modesty, omitted to mention that a large part of his time is spent in volunteering for different charities across the district, of which the museum is one. Come rain or shine, Richard and Ralph make the journey to Settle every week all the year round and contribute enormously to our work.

Ralph has been made an honorary member of the team, not only because he makes everyone happy as soon as he walks through the door, but also because he enables Richard to give us the benefit of his knowledge, experience and skills. They make a fantastic partnership!

I believe this story highlights the fact that guide dogs do not just help their owners but make a vital contribution to our community life as well. Volunteering plays an increasingly important part in enabling charities to function and survive and every member of our communities should be encouraged and empowered to volunteer in whatever way they can. The Guide Dogs charity is a wonderful example of an organisation which makes a real difference to all of us and I urge everyone to support Richard’s sky dive as generously as they can. Donations can be made at justgiving.com/RichardandRalph or text RALF66 £amount to 70070.

Anne Read, Hon Curator, Museum of North Craven Life, The Folly, Settle.

Sir - I write regarding the development off Moorview Way, Skipton.

Does the ratepayers’ quality of life in Skipton not count any more?

Do the planning officers and highways not realise that the access to a development impacts on the existing ratepayers of Craven District Council?

Surely the planning committee should have taken into account the grid lock that would be caused in Skipton, with the access to Newmarket Street, into and through town constantly being impossible. This can be seen with the closure of Sackville street and gives some indication of the gridlock that will be caused by the extra traffic from North Parade and Elsey Croft.

We did live in an idyllic market town - why is our choice being taken away? The scrawl of building that is going on makes our lives untenable - stop now while we still have a market town, before we become a suburb of Bradford and Leeds. Living through this constant barrage of traffic, noise and disruption is not healthy for us or our town.

Skipton the best place to live! Don’t make us laugh, no wonder we are no longer top of the list.

We look forward to our rate reduction.

Enid Wilcock, Moorview Way, Skipton.

SIR - I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been watching out for my cat, Bella.

After six days missing, she was found in a nearby cellar and is now back home.

Could I ask anyone who sees a dead cat or dog or maybe is feeding a lost or stray animal, to contact their local vet so that the owner has a chance of finding out what has happened.

Good luck to those people still looking for their lovely animals.

Janice Procter Bright Street, Skipton.

SIR - Steve Amphlett (‘Vibrancy returned’, April 9) contrasts the decline of Skipton High Street with the transformation of Settle over the past few years from a town that had lost its vitality into to a buzzing and attractive place in which to live, work and invest.

The point is made that the Vibrant Settle Community Partnership achieved this without “the injection of large public grants or local government initiatives” but it is shocking to read that our local councillors are not engaging with it.

Most councils would leap at the chance to work with such a dynamic enterprise to help bring prosperity and a brighter future for local residents and businesses.

Steve Amphlett invites our councillors to step up and play their part, as if it were an option. Saving the local economy is not optional for local government; it is something councillors are meant to take a leading part in. What is holding them back? Could it be funding restraints imposed by the Conservative government on local authorities?

Geraldine Reardon The Green, Settle.

SIR - Giving housing association tenants the ‘right to buy’ will severely reduce the availability of affordable rural housing in Craven. The homes sold off under council tenants’ ‘right to buy’ have never been replaced.

Housing associations have built some schemes, but they rely on altruistic landowners selling land at less than housing market value. They have been willing to do so on the basis of a legal agreement that the houses will not be sold on the open market.

Who would do so knowing that the houses will soon be sold off to the highest bidder?

The money raised from sales will be a fraction of the cost of replacement.

Therefore we will see a big reduction in affordable homes and a consequent acceleration in the flow of young people out of our rural areas.

Peter Watson The Bield, Ingleton.

SIR - I would like to offer my thanks to the Vibrant Settle Community Partnership whose tireless efforts have had such an impact on Settle.

Visitors and traders are returning to the town in force though some of its worst aspects, from a visitor’s point of view, are still unchanged.

Settle Town Council and Craven are strapped for cash we hear but when they weren’t 20 years of protesting about heavy transport through the town, especially noticeable on market days, fell on deaf ears. Do they see the lorry drivers as council taxpayers? Who calls the tune here?

In addition visitors’ contributions are so underrated that the public toilet problem has still to be solved in spite of many admirable suggestions that have been ignored. I despair!

Mrs J Calvert Longdale Avenue, Settle.

SIR - Lois Brothwell (Letters, April 9), extols the virtues of Skipton as a tourist attraction and as a place to live. She makes derogatory remarks about Canada in comparison.

In terms of environment and climate in the UK, we have big advantages over our Canadian counterparts.What a pity that, unlike the Canadians, we desecrate our highways and streets with all kinds of litter.

MJ Fenwick Eshton.

Sir - After a recent water leak from our bathroom, we decided to have a makeover while repairing the leak. After removing all the tiles from the bathroom I decided take them to the tip.

Imagine my horror when I was informed the tiles I was about to tip were going to cost me up to £60. I had two car lots to take that would have been £120.

Needless to say I did not leave them but had a brainwave on the way home. I drove to Keighley tip and asked if I could tip them. I was told which skip to put them in and the attendant even helped me unload them from my car.

All Craven Council seems to do nowadays is Take take take ... garden refuse £24 per year, a charge to tip household rubbish (I class these as rubbish as I am not a tradesman!) are just two examples. What else are they going to charge me for I dread to think.

Enough is enough.

Mark Oldfield Bradley.

SIR - As a retired local architect who has practised in Skipton for 50 years, I write to support wholeheartedly the recent letters in your paper submitted by Graham Threadgold and Michael Devenish, both of whom live in the vicinity of the Lambert Hills development.

There is little I need add to their comments apart from to reinforce the apparent uncontrolled encroachment by the developers into Aireville Park. Do they have permission from Craven District Council?

Walking up the west boundary of the development the other day, I was not a little surprised to see a new gable end constructed so close to a mature tree in the park, that the scaffolding necessary for its erection, was intertwined with the main boughs of the tree.

Will the tree end up being felled or will the building suffer structurally? I suspect the former. How many more trees will suffer as a result of this development?

Viewing the recently publicised plans for the North Parade proposed development, I was most disappointed to see the mediocre standards of design.

I hope that the Craven District Council planners will use their powers to influence the designers to introduce some exciting variety into the proposals, not only in appropriate construction materials, but even more so in the external form of the buildings.

It is also to be hoped that builders’ access to the site will be stringently controlled, so as to disrupt the lives of local residents as little as possible.

Barry Rawson Park Street, Skipton.

SIR - Craven District Council seem addicted to holding “closed” meetings. It’s fair to remind everybody that there is a Freedom of Information Act in this country, and ample instructions on the internet on how to use it.

Just a thought.

CI Hewison Brackenley Lane, Embsay.

SIR - I write in reference to a letter that was published on April 2 regarding “A Sad state of affairs”. I must first clarify that I have never attempted any form of “parachuting”, although this sounds like fun, I believe in keeping my feet firmly on the ground.

To be attacked in the press by someone who does not know me or my track record of working with all community groups is a bit galling. I would have thought the writer would spend more of his time attending to issues that concern local residents rather than playing petty politics.

Fighting to maintain services, improve public transport, providing good quality education facilities for our families and fighting over development of our green fields is much more worthy of putting pen to paper.

Trying to second guess my commitment or my work ethics as a councillor, with over 15 years of experience working in local government, must surely concern the electorate. How better to understand local communities than to work with them?

This is why I enjoy working as a clerk for parish councils as this is the first tier of local democracy, where volunteers help to shape peoples futures and provide good quality services.

Is the writer worried that the time for change is fast approaching and that on May 7 local residents will choose a candidate who will stand up for them and not for themselves?

Local democracy is a wonderful thing, I just hope that all residents use their right to vote and use it wisely.

Andrew Mallinson Conservative candidate for Glusburn Ward Silsden.

SIR- I was disturbed to read that 347 people in Skipton and Ripon have called national debt helplines recently.

Night after night we get bombarded with adverts for pay day loan companies encouraging people to take on debt at rates of interest that a back street criminal loan shark would blush to offer.

Surely this must be one of the simplest and the most urgent of things to put a stop to. All it requires is a return to strong legislation on who can run a bank and what it is allowed to do. Limits to charges and interest rates need to be imposed. And while we are at it we might try and reduce the risk of a second banking crisis like that of 2008 which caused so many of our current difficulties.

Seven years after the banking crisis we still haven’t done anything to separate useful high street banks from high risk merchant banks which put the whole economy at risk by gambling with our money. Instead we have pumped £375 billion into the banking system in the hope that this would mean they would get back to making affordable loans to business. They haven’t.

It is time to tackle the place where our problems started - an excessively de-regulated banking system - rather than impose a new round of cuts on the welfare state and force more people into using food banks and borrowing from legalised loan sharks.

Andy Brown Parliamentary Candidate for the Green Party for Skipton and Ripon Main Street Cononley.

SIR - The general election on May 7 is a key opportunity for disabled people to make their voices heard at the ballot box.

The next government will be making decisions about everything from whether we get more disabled-friendly homes built to essential support with cooking, washing and getting out and about.

To use your vote you need to make sure you are on the electoral register – you can check this by contacting your local council.

There are lots of ways to vote – you can vote at your local polling station, by post, or you can nominate someone to cast your vote for you. The deadline to register to vote is April 20.

Your local council should make sure that disabled people are able to use their vote in person on polling day.

There are many ways that they can do this, for example by making sure polling stations are accessible to wheelchair users, providing forms in large-print or taking time to explain the process so that someone can cast their vote.

For more information about voting, please visit leonardcheshire.org/voting and ensure you have a say on the important issues that affect your daily life.

Emma Lindsay Campaigns Manager, Leonard Cheshire Disability South Lambeth Road, London.

SIR - Driving around our beautiful constituency, I have recently noticed that many of the fields have become blighted by the somewhat vulgar signage of Julian Smith. What does this say about today’s Conservative party, that many of these signs are in places owned by the millionaire families of the county, who of course are more than happy to support a party which looks after their personal interests.

In contrast the Labour party posters I have seen in the area, are in the windows of ordinary family homes, because these people recognise that Labour, and Malcolm Birks are on their side.

Diane Dillon Hammerton Drive, Hellifield.

SIR - It is a sad reflection of our membership of the EU that we have been forced to hand over most of our fishing rights to the likes of Spain, Portugal, and France, thereby decimating our own fishing industry. Britain, a country surrounded by rich fishing waters, now has to import £2.66 billion worth of seafood annually, that is two thirds of our consumption.

But it does not end there,1.7 million tonnes of fish annually, 23 per cent of the catch is thrown away as ‘discards’. This is caused by the total allowable catch quota which states that if a vessel is fishing for species A and B but catches some of species C, these have to be discarded, most of these are usually dead.

The EU Common Fisheries Policy is to blame for this. It wants towing out to sea and sinking.

Roger Baxandall, North View, Cross Hills.