Letters to the editor

AS CAN be seen from the Craven Herald of October 29, car parking in Skipton is a major issue.
What we need is common sense and courtesy from those who park in residential streets outside people’s homes and also those who enforce parking in Skipton, whether on-street or in car parks.
I raised the issue of "over enthusiastic" enforcement of on-street parking with county councillor Andy Solloway, and you reported on his comments recently in your paper. I have now taken up the issue as ward councillor of parents parking in Coach Street car park when dropping off, or picking up, their children from the local schools. They have used this car park for years with, apparently, an informal arrangement allowing them to park there for more than 15 minutes. This has worked well so common sense says ‘let sleeping dogs lie’.
However, the official view, which I can understand but not agree with, is there is a 15-minute grace period for all in our car parks and it is unfair to make exceptions. I am pleased to say Craven Council officers are seeking a solution with North Yorkshire County Council as the education authority.
However, I have suggested a further possible common sense solution of providing ‘pop and shop’ spaces (half-an-hour for 20p) in Coach Street car park, as in the town hall car park, which could alleviate the problem and, at the same time, help local traders in Coach Street and Water Street the rest of the day. I am optimistic this will be seriously considered and implemented.
JOHN DAWSON,
Craven district and Skipton town councillor,
Gainsborough Court, Skipton.

THE suggestion that “informal time limited parking on Coach Street car park during term time for parents of children at Water Street School, St Stephen’s School, and Ermysted’s Grammar School, should be formalised” caught my eye – Council urged to keep extended free parking (Craven Herald, October 29).
This, in fact, need only be necessary in the afternoons during term time as the children are in school by 9am and charges are only in place from 9am onwards, which allows parents to escort their children to school in a timely fashion and leave the car park by 9am. St Stephen’s School is literally across the road from Coach Street car park, and both destination sites are serviced by a pedestrian crossing over Gargrave Road. Fifteen or 20 minutes should be more than adequate to reach Water Street School, which is at the top of Elliot Street and St Stephen’s Close, and return to the car park. Indeed, only this morning I walked from my home to Fisher Medical Centre, kept my appointment and returned home within 20 minutes. As a resident of St Stephen’s Close, I have witnessed some near misses with traffic and pedestrians on occasion, and it is only a matter of time before something more serious arises. Some parents have a habit of parking across residents’ driveways – even turning round on private driveways and, more worryingly, parking on the junction of Elliot Street and St Stephen’s Close, which is marked ‘Keep Clear’ for visibility reasons, not for temporary parking. Parking in Coach Street car park would solve a lot of problems and keep children safe.
Elliot Street is both very narrow and very steep, and there is a blind spot when driving up the hill, where downhill drivers often need to give way, with little choice of space to move into, without reversing. This then creates another risk where small children are involved, as they become invisible.
Another solution would be to have a short length of double yellow lines to allow some refuge for two vehicles to pass in safety at the crest of the hill and on the pinch-point where St Stephen’s Close becomes Castle View Terrace. Perhaps North Yorkshire Highways will bear this in mind when it assesses the issue of on-street parking in the area at school drop-off times?
Stuart Anslow, headteacher of Water Street Primary School, off narrow Elliott Street, has done his best to urge parents to use Coach Street car park as a way of avoiding congestion, and whilst a new term begins with some acknowledgement of this, I notice old habits soon creep back.
Parents should remember it is their children’s lives that are at risk should there be an accident, and using the car park would go a long way to eliminate the risk.
As your report states that Craven District Council’s spokesman said “The official grace period for parking in all Craven District Council car parks is 15 minutes. There has never been a formal arrangement extending this, and the council has to abide by what is in place under legal documentation – 15 minutes”, it would seem adequate time is pretty much already in place, and new pick-up habits could – and should – be formed forthwith, and traffic wardens duly reminded of this waiver.
VALERIE MASON,
St Stephen’s Close, Skipton.

I HAD a wry smile when I read the article "Council urged to keep extended free parking" in your October 29 edition regarding the limited free parking on the Coach Street car park for parents on the school run.
Stuart Anslow, the headteacher of Water Street Primary School, remarked that it had been known for drivers to mount the pavement in Elliot Street, causing safety issues for children. On the busy A56 in Thornton-in-Craven, it is a rare occasion when parents actually park off the pavement. Not only do they park on the pavement, but regularly drive along it, some at an unsafe speed, from where there is a lowered access. It is rather reminiscent of cars entering the pit lane at a Grand Prix!
ROBERT HALL,
Rock House, Thornton-in-Craven.

I HAVE noted during the past few months an ever-increasing number of white painted lines on the roads in Lancashire and Yorkshire, usually round drain covers, small potholes and uneven surfaces. Are the lines to warn road users of hazards or to indicate to repairers of jobs to be done? If it is the latter (as I suspect), the jobs should be done soon as many of the lines are being worn away!
TONY CARROLL,
The Mains, Giggleswick.

IT was indeed fortunate for the farmers and landowners of 200 years ago that they were not beset by planning committees and the like, otherwise no field barns or traditional farmyards would exist today – Restored barn faces demolition (Craven Herald, October 29).
One need not travel very far from the barn in question at Bank Newton, to find farm developments of a far less sympathetic nature.
All the farmer and his family are attempting to do is to preserve their barn for posterity in order to prevent it falling into disrepair, as have so many others in and around the Dales. What is so difficult about leaving this family to get on with their business – they are not hurting anybody?
So, come on Craven District Council, live and let live. Christmas is a-coming.
ST FOSTER,
Newfield Grange, Calton.

I READ with interest that Settle Town Council has turned down proposals to ban cars in part of the market place – Residents ask council to think again over parking (Craven Herald, October 29). Settle is remarkable in that it has a beautiful market place with some attractive buildings. It is very sad this fine space is stuffed with cars, so that it appears very unwelcoming to pedestrians.
It seems that it takes an outsider’s perspective to see what locals have become blind to: the town’s prime civic space is sacrificed to the needs of the motor car – a happenstance of convenience that amounts to negligence.
At the time of the foot and mouth outbreak (2001), there was popular support for a scheme to upgrade the market place. This would have been reorganised into an attractive civic space with the diagonal road eliminated. Some short-term parking, certainly, and also varied paving with trees, seating, play areas and pavement cafes, not unlike those lovely continental market places that we enjoy as tourists.
Is it not the case that the businesses of Settle (the town’s economy) depend largely on its visitors? Can Settle really afford to turn its back on them? Bold leadership would see the council put Settle on the map as a town that takes pride in the ancient heritage of its market.
JOHN VARNEY,
High Trenhouse Management Centre, Malham Moor.

THAT the Tories have jumped in bed with a Communist state gives the lie to their much-flaunted ideology of laissez-faire, hands-off, entrepreneurial, market-driven capitalism.
The Government believes in hard-core state intervention, from slashing support of the solar power industry to admitting that Hinkley Point nuclear power station will indeed be subsidised by the taxpayer to the tune of, at least, £20 billion (with another £22 billion owed if the venture closes early).
The Tory version of the nanny state coddles foreign corporations with sweet deals, turns London into a safe haven for the one per cent, and benevolently turns a blind eye to rampant tax evasion. This same nanny turns nasty when it comes to the working and unemployed poor, who are somehow unworthy of any sort of aid; in fact, a good kick in the teeth while shouting about the need to pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps is thought to be the right approach. The Tories believe in nationalisation, but only one that rewards big money with public money. Nationalised entities such as EDF (a French, state-owned company) and the Chinese state will receive our taxes. How come we don’t just go ahead and build/run/own Hinkley Point ourselves? Well, because that would be the wrong sort of nationalisation, one that gives money and power to a working class (and unions). So, our Government will bail out the banks while it refuses to bail out the steel industry. Profits, not people, rule the day.
BRUCE MCLEOD,
Otterburn.

I WAS pleased to see Conservative MP Julian Smith asking the Conservative-led Craven District Council to get a move on with producing the local plan – MP urges council to crack on with plan (Craven Herald, October 29).
He is absolutely right. Without a decent plan, local people remain wide open to inappropriate developments taking place in their locality. It is, however, important we don’t just get any old plan. We need one that reflects real local needs. Sixty-six per cent of people who are looking to move in North Yorkshire want a home that is two bedrooms or less, and it requires an income of more than £35,857 to be able to afford one of the cheapest 25 per cent of properties in Craven. Few local first-time buyers can afford the kinds of three-bedroom homes most developers seem to want to build.
We therefore need a strong plan for affordable housing built primarily on brownfield locations. It will be interesting to see whether Craven Council can produce a plan that achieves that, or whether they can satisfy national government that the plan builds enough houses without committing us to so much development on the greenbelt that we wreck the character of the local areas we all care so much about. It is, of course, the Conservative government’s National Policy and Planning Framework that has made it so very hard to submit an acceptable plan. Something that Julian might like to explain to his fellow party members as they struggle to satisfy very challenging requirements for housing growth without letting us all down by permitting run-away development.
ANDY BROWN,
Green Party,
Main Street, Cononley.

COULD I ask our MP Julian Smith some questions? You belong to a Conservative Government that does not support our steel industry, yet your Government says it is to replace our nuclear submarines. May I ask with what steel? We have none. Maybe from China with their subsidised sub-standard steel. Or Germany or France, whose governments give their steel industries millions to survive.
Don’t we run the risk of giving secrets of our subs to foreign governments?
I hope you can answer these with a letter to the Craven Herald.
C GREENWOOD,
Cedar Grove, Sutton-in-Craven.

NOVEMBER 8 is Remembrance Sunday when, no doubt, the hymn O God, our help in ages past will be sung at services up and down the land. Two lines in that hymn read: “Sufficient is Thine arm alone, And our defence is sure”. Clearly, the £100 billion for Trident is just in case the Almighty should dare to take a day off!
KEITH BRADSHAW,
Riversdale, Giggleswick.

NOVEMBER marks the start of the new hunting season for the 289 registered packs of hounds across Britain, which provide an important service for farmers and landowners by lawfully managing the population of foxes, hare and deer.
The Hunting Act means that many of the packs of harriers, foxhounds, beagles, bassetts and mink hounds now follow a trail, but most also continue to carry out wildlife management under the exemptions put into the Hunting Act by MPs who realised that populations of some mammals have to be controlled.
We had hoped that the new season would have been marked by small amendments to the Hunting Act, which were to have come before Parliament in July. These would have varied the number of hounds allowed to be used by hunts when flushing mammals out to be shot.
However, despite evidence showing that being able to use more dogs is more effective, and potentially more humane, and the support of a majority of MPs in Government, the vote was called off.
There is no justification for the Hunting Act and it will be consigned to history. So, the hunting community starts the new season in good spirits determined to continue hunting, under the law, and fighting for repeal.
TIM BONNER,
Chief executive, Countryside Alliance.

WITH Christmas fast approaching, I am appealing for local people in Bradford, Skipton and Ilkley to volunteer for Marie Curie’s Christmas Collection Appeal and help make it a success. We’re looking for people to help us collect in supermarkets and other venues across the area.
Marie Curie is here for people living with any terminal illness, and their families. We offer expert care, guidance and support to help them get the most from the time they have left. Marie Curie Nurses will be working throughout the festive season to ensure that patients can spend time with loved ones at home or be cared for at one of our nine hospices across the country.
Donating your time to the appeal will allow Marie Curie Nurses to provide more free care to people with terminal illnesses in their own homes.
To donate a couple of hours of your time please contact the local Fundraising Office on 01274 337036 or e-mail sharon.link@mariecurie.org.uk
SHARON LINK,
Marie Curie community fundraiser, Yorkshire.