Letters to the editor

I live close to the quarry, and those of us who live here would like to see the quarry remain as a quiet and tranquil place. It may be barren to some people, but even after two years, wildlife is moving in and trees are growing. I think it is an excellent idea for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to oversee the upper quarry’s transformation into a nature reserve.

It is all very well for councillors Myers and Mulligan to trumpet their enthusiasm for business, tourism and expensive art work. They don’t live here. Perhaps we do not want thousands of people, traffic and noise on our doorsteps.

As mentioned in a letter to the Threshfield Quarry Development Trust, I have nothing against some ‘in keeping’ art installations, but why not get some of our local artists and sculptors to create some works: exposure for them and a lot cheaper than £220,000?

Some small-scale business and information centre in the lower quarry is fine, but it needs to be quiet. Some people seem to get over-excited at the potential of money sloshing about and bigging themselves up.

IAN HARLAND, West View, Threshfield.

IT IS disappointing that developer Dalesview Developments has dismissed valid objections and genuine concerns to its block of flats overlooking Skipton’s Christ Church School’s playground as an “ill-considered crusade” – Nothing to fear (Craven Herald, August 20).

As a parent of a child at the school and a school governor, I have full faith the school will continue its excellent record of keeping children feeling safe, but the building now presents a very different environment for the children.

Due to an error by the planning authority, the school was not consulted, an error compounded by a lack of consultation on changes to the plan.

In his letter to the Craven Herald last week, Mr Wilkinson states the “fear and publicity” are “unjustified” as the amendments are “minor”.

Any need to prioritise the safety and security of young children cannot be “unjustified”. Perhaps a better use of this word could relate to constant building changes, poor planning decisions and lack of consultation with those parties most affected by them.

Put simply, is it considerate development to build flats within centimetres of a school playground without talking to the school first?

As for the “approved scheme”, it is already significantly different to the original presented, which had no doors or landings facing the playground and no external staircases.

The so-called first “non-material amendment” – a term we disagree with but again were denied the opportunity to object to – has replaced small obscured windows with front doors and an external staircase without additional permission (an issue the school is pursuing with the council). This has already increased concerns significantly.

We feel strongly the latest application compounds this issue further.

Mr Wilkinson states that prior to his construction, the school and playground were overlooked.

To compare distant views to the school site with front doors, landings and a proposed walkway 850mm from the school wall, providing a direct view into classrooms, is absurd, and as such Mr Wilkinson’s observation is simply untrue.

The doors facing the playground will allow people to stand and watch and use the walkway as a balcony. If residents of these flats want to pop outside for a cigarette, for example, the balcony is a handy place to go.

I’d also like to point out that Mr Wilkinson is using an out of date Google street view in his arguments (the picture he used in his letter to CDC). The railings to the playground were replaced with solid gates two years ago!

The school’s safeguarding procedures are robust. Residents of these flats centimetres away cannot be monitored in the same way.

Mr Wilkinson suggests the school should have done more to improve privacy previously.

That such naïve comments could be made at a time when the safeguarding of children is (quite rightly) high on the national agenda and required to be a part of every planning decision, further reflects the overall lack of consideration for building so close to a school. It suggests they are merely placing their profit as a priority.

The school walls reflect the school’s history and the integrity of being part of the Skipton conservation area – as such, they cannot be changed. More to the point, the school never felt it necessary to increase the height, as it would not have envisaged being encroached upon in this way.

While the school does have housing to the rear, this is separated by an alleyway and without views directly into children’s classrooms.

It is important to stress, there have been no windows in such extreme proximity to the school prior to this building.

Readers should also be aware the developer is building within centimetres of this upper playground, too, with permission dating back to 2008 and changed since, enclosing the school still further.

However it’s dressed up, this development has continued in a non-approved way with little thought to the impact on the safety, security and environment for the school’s pupils.

So, rather than make incendiary remarks, perhaps Dalesview should take some time to listen to the school’s genuine concerns regarding safeguarding and the children’s right to privacy.

MATT CORNISH, On behalf of the governors and headteacher of Christ Church School.

I WRITE your article by Clive White in the Craven Herald of August 6 – Call for more ‘vision’ over plan.

The policy committee of Craven District Council has generously agreed to spend £100,000, from its infra-structure reserve, to ‘transform’ Cross Hills and to apply for funding from the Heritage Lottery.

I don’t think the article made it clear the £100,000 is to be match-funded. Hence the promise of an application to Heritage Lottery for a percentage, to see if they were willing to award a grant. If they weren’t willing, extra funding would have to be found elsewhere.

So, as I understand it, if you wanted £10,000 for a shop/village improvement project you would get £5,000, possibly more, from the £100,000, the remainder would have to be topped up from elsewhere. So the village doesn’t just receive £100,000 per se.

This money is also only available for the retail centre of Cross Hills, so roughly from the end of Wheatlands Lane to the top of Station Road. So, as Councillor Place said: “A dream is missing, we need more forward thinking”.

I think the existing dream is that we have a sum of money to spend on our village without any provisos.

The nightmare is our village is dangerously overloaded with very heavy traffic, and a ‘mushrooming’ chemical plant. I also think the opinions of Cross Hills residents should be sought before anything is decided.

JENNY WOOD, Glusburn and Cross Hills parish councillor, Station Grove, Cross Hills.

THE people, landscape and environment of the Yorkshire Dales are set to benefit from a £50,000 boost thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

The charity lottery launched in January 2008 and now 55p from every £2 ticket goes directly to good causes, such as local charity Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.

During the past six-and-a-half years, the Trust has been fortunate enough to receive £651,332 from the charity lottery. This incredible sum of money plays a vital role in enabling us to continue working with partners to deliver a wide range of inspiring projects that help to care for all aspects of life in the Yorkshire Dales.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to all players of People’s Postcode Lottery for their ongoing support, which helps to fund important work, including habitat conservation, education, outreach and rural apprenticeship schemes for young local people.

The Flowers of the Dales Festival is another initiative that has been made possible thanks to this support. Currently in full swing, the festival focuses on wildflowers and the unique natural environment of the Yorkshire Dales, with an inspiring range of events taking place across the region throughout August, September and into October, so I’d certainly encourage readers to take a look at the programme at the ydmt.org/Festival2015 website.

DAVID SHARROD, Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust director, Clapham.

AFTER reading Graham Turnbull’s letter in last week’s Craven Herald about misery of local residents – Car parking chaos (August 20) – I agree with him.

The noise of slamming car doors in the morning, the chaos caused in Regent Estate by Skipton Building Society employees and parents dropping off children at the preschool, along with no speed restrictions or traffic control and inconsiderate dumping of cars on roads, which are unsuitable for double parking with driveway access, is the proverbial accident waiting to happen.

We all bought our houses in Regent Estate not Skipton Building Society’s car park.

I have to wonder what David Cutter and the owner of the preschool would have to say if it was a problem in their own residential area.

G HARDY, Regent Road, Skipton.

I HAVE just driven along the roads bordering Cononley and Glusburn moors, and failed to see any of the “choked road edges” with giant hogweed.

I saw plenty of cow parsley, with which it’s often confused, but which is both indigenous and in no way dangerous. Sloe, bilberry and blackberry pickers need to watch out more for nettles and thistles!

I did enquire of the Environment Agency about the eradication of giant hogweed. They said it was not their responsibility but the council’s. Since this flies in the face of a Craven Herald report on July 23 – Giant hogweed is spreading its poison – I’m at a loss to know whom to tell were I to discover any.

ALLAN FRISWELL, Keighley Road, Cowling.

THE Post Office proposes to close the Westmoreland Street branch in Skipton and move it to Spar – Post office may shut in modernisation bid (Craven Herald, August 6).

This is under the guise of ‘modernisation’ – basically, having screen-free counters despite screens being protective – and ‘meeting the needs of the community’. Needs are not specified but longer opening hours from 7am are lauded, something I will not be setting my alarm for.

Ironically, when this post office was incredibly busy, with small businesses sending off hundreds of parcels a day, longer hours would have made sense. A ridiculous increase in prices sent business elsewhere, and frantic efforts by Post Office blunderers to readjust prices has not brought them back.

If the Post Office really wants to modernise, there is the scandal of faulty accounting machines that can show an incorrect deficit that has to be made up by staff before they can reopen. These machines do urgently need modernising.

I understand the present staff were in the end given two basic options – find your own nearby premises (there are none) or open for longer hours for the same pay, a throw back to Victorian practices. Jeff and Maureen are both highly experienced, patient and friendly post office staff. Running a post office is a complicated business.

Will the Spar staff, full or part time, permanent or temporary, however willing, have the same knowledge and skills? I doubt it. If this move goes through, the handover will be in November/December, just in time for the new staff to practise their skills in the Christmas rush. Surely another typical lack of forethought?

People dismayed by this proposed Post Office shambles, who feel a town the size of Skipton should have a designated post office, can pick up a copy of this proposal from the post office. Comments on the scheme can be sent to comments@postoffice.co.uk or write to: Freepost your comments, The Post Office. The deadline is September 10. so please Do not delay.

CHRISTINE WALTON, Neville Street, Skipton.

I SUPPORT the police on the roads – Speeders tackled in police crackdown (Craven Herald, August 20).

I spend time in Cross Hills and I am fed up of bikers, cars, vans and trucks driving like nutters around the area. The A65 is full of idiots.

So, I hope the police spend a lot of time catching them. They are there for a reason – to protect people on the road.

I am also fed up of people on their phones while driving, and the best place to catch these people is the level crossing at Cross Hills. I see haulage drivers every day driving over the crossing while on the phone.

Good luck to the police – go get them.

PHILIP SVEJOHA, Kirkby Lonsdale.

SO, Nicky Morgan has announced the wonderful news all school children of eight years of age are to be enrolled in their local public library.

What a hollow promise this proves to be.

She is part of the government that has closed 300 public libraries, reduced the number of professional librarians by 20 per cent, leaving 400 of our libraries to be run by volunteers, slashed opening hours, book funds and book stocks and, ironically, refuses to make school libraries statutory.

So, finding a library to join that is nearby, open and well stocked could prove to complicate the plan.

LINDA EVANS, Member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Langcliffe.

REGARDING your invitation in the Craven Herald of August 13 for memories of Cilla Black – ‘Lovely’ Cilla recalled by contestant on show.

Prior to opening my shop – C and H Brown, in Skipton – in 1973, I was a dancer with the Tiller Girls, of London Palladium fame.

In 1964, we danced in the Royal Variety Show at the Palladium. It was, I believe, Cilla’s Royal debut. Four top female singers of that year were introduced by David Jacobs and each arrived on stage in a sports car going round on the revolving stage. They were Cilla, Millie Martin, Kathy Kirby and Brenda Lee.

A few years later, when Sunday Night at The Palladium had finished, we switched TV channels to BBC and worked on The Billy Cotton Band Shows. Cilla was a popular guest and a favourite of Billy Cotton.

Another summer I was dancing in Blackpool, Cilla was in a different show and I remember being at a party and sitting opposite Cilla and Bobbie. She was telling stories of her early days in showbusiness. One I remember in particular was when she asked Brian Epstein why he drove a large car when she and Bobbie were still in a van. You can have a large car, he told her. Apparently she had no idea how much she was worth at that time. She and Bobbie went to a luxury car showroom and chose a car, asking the salesman to take the van in part exchange.

Many years later, the Tillers re-formed and we appeared on Surprise, Surprise with her. A lady had a wish to be a Tiller Girl when she was young and her surprise was to join in with us. During a relaxed moment in the studio, Cilla joked: “Do you have your legs lagged to kick like that?”

She was a lovely lady, who was loved in showbusiness by everyone.

HAZEL MAXFIELD, Gisburn Road, West Marton.

I AM writing to you to inform you of a fantastic day we had on August 15.

We travelled with Bibby’s of Ingleton – this was our first trip with them – on a day excursion to Whitby. The day was fantastic, warm weather and plenty of different pubs and restaurants to choose from.

We were looked after very well by our driver (David). He was polite, very considerate and a very good driver.

I have heard that Bibby’s of Ingleton have a very good reputation – well they certainly have. They are a very caring company; always take into consideration their customers. They have excellent customer care.

We would like to thank the company and David, the driver, for a most wonderful, enjoyable day.

LESLEY HOWARTH, Low Demesne Close, Ingleton.

I NOTED the vitriolic verbiage Peter Rigby directed at Councillor Robert Heseltine – Councillor may want to be mayor himself (Craven Herald, August 13).

Bah gum indeed – that were a bit ripe.

Bottom line though, Mr Rigby. You may publicly deride Robert as much as you like, but there is no hiding the fact he was voted in and subsequently re-elected again and again onto both Craven District and North Yorkshire County councils by the actual public.

That, therefore – as I interpret Mr Rigby’s script – must also make the voting public a doubtful lot. ‘Lot’ being the ultimate description for there were indeed a very lot who voted for Robert, both at district and county level.

The Robert Heseltine whom I have come to be acquainted with is the guy who, with a colleague, waded waist deep, then chest deep, then neck deep through rat-ridden, sewage infested floodwaters to try to rescue an elderly lady, who sadly perished amid a Skipton tidal wave. Then they rescued an elderly gentleman on that same storm-struck day.

And, on numerous occasions more recently, myself arriving back in Skipton early Sunday evening from a sporting event, I have noticed him shovelling up dog filth around town, out with his weedkiller equipment or tidying up the leisure gardens beside the cenotaph or at the bottom of Shortbank. All good for the community. Voluntary and unpaid.

Indeed, credentials better than Boris, I would suggest.

ROGER INGHAM, Aldersley Avenue, Skipton.